The SOLDIER of Ivalice
by Sahxyel
Summary: If anything, Basch was entirely certain this was as odd as it could get. Ever since they had found that strange red orb, he had the feeling that nothing would be quite right thereafter...
1. Chapter I

**Disclaimer:** _Sahxyel does not own either Final Fantasy XII or Final Fantasy VII, for Square Enix rightfully owns both concepts. Thank you._

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Report VII**

_They surely mock me!_

_My studies have taken exhaustive measures from the first publication of my theses, and now I am certain my hypothesis to be absolutely correct!_

_The silly people and their beliefs cling to the idea that the world, that Ivalice itself, was created from godlike intervention and shaped everything into what it is today. However, how do the theocratic theories explain unimaginable phenomena that lay deep within the sand and dirt underneath our feet? How can one adequately explain where the bones of a monstrous serpent came to be, if Ivalice itself was created only a few thousand years ago?_

_I hear you asking, hm?_

_It is because Ivalice, no, the entire planet was here for much longer than predicted!_

_How do I know this, you may ask?_

_My excavation of a tiny portion of the Paramina Rift has revealed the remains of an amazing geological stratum, dating millennia ago! Ancient artifacts, many in great condition were uncovered!_

_Among the objects uncovered were various mechanical devices that seemed to have been preserved in casings from years ago, and peculiar orbs that seem to glow upon interacting with them. After a few studies, we found that the Mist actually reacts to the orbs!_

_I believe these orbs to be none other than the mythical 'nethicite' that Dr. Cid has been raving about recently!_

_Unfortunately, my colleagues call them nothing but 'shiny baubles' from a time long past. Oh-ho, but they shall see! Soon, Archadia shall benefit from this discovery, and I to it also!_

_-Marcus Lentil, Natural Researcher_

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The marvelous and prestigious city within the heart of the empire, Arcades, simply glowed with some sparkle that was admittedly hypnotizing to all who gazed upon it. The city still hummed with action even as the beginnings of night shed darkness onto the capitol city. Lights illuminated the growing darkness, making the city of Arcades glow even brighter at night.

One of the brightest and certainly most conspicuous buildings that towered over what seemed to be all else was the Draklor Laboratory. The central hub of all the enhancements that made Arcades to what it was now, the Draklor Lab; a force to be considered and feared among all opposing countries. For the Lab, although it did not wield the sword, it held the mightiest sway over pure, unknown, power, which it shared with Arcades' armies again and again.

With the war of Nabudis drawing closer to some sort of climax, the Draklor Labs were busier than ever. Nowadays, rumors spread like wildfire among those in Old Arcades that the Labs were working on something amazing, something that could possibly destroy the world if ever found or truly manufactured.

Word often drifted around that this fabled 'nethicite' was nothing more than the inventions of the poor who scraped for a bit of cash to trade this information for. More adventurous investors of knowledge spoke of an excavation that unveiled actual nethecite buried deep within the ground, and that the Empire itself would rule all of Ivalice soon because of it.

The problem with these rumors, however, was this; they were rumors, and nobody can fully trust what they hear.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Dr. Cid barely wasted his time, for one quick glance said it all. A sneer pulled at his lips, "_That_ is not nethicite."

The young researcher trembled, clutching the orbs to his chest. His brown eyes were wide and incredulous, as though he did not believe what he was hearing. "But sir, these look exactly as you described! They even react to Mist!" Thef youth earnestly held one orb out, showing the brilliance of it as it gleamed in the darkness of Dr. Cid's study. The orb was barely bigger than a child's shooting marble and was smoother than glass to touch. A small light came from the center of it, giving off a crimson glow to its surroundings.

Unfortunately, the red hue only seemed to darken the good doctor's mood. "It is a sham, only a knick-knack from centuries past. Get rid of it, and anything else you might have found in that blasted hole you dug into." For a brief moment, Dr. Cid's eyes flicked to his immediate left, as if he heard something, before returning his gaze to the researcher.

Marcus Lentil's face fell noticeably, "…Sir-"

A fist pounded on the mahogany desk, making Lentil jump in surprise. "That expedition was nothing but a terrible waste of time and resources! I need my underlings working on _worthwhile_ projects, not busying themselves with ends that came to end before our time." Dr. Cid's voice grew oddly genial, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully behind his small spectacles. "…Lentil…how would you feel about a new assignment? Just to readjust to the new standards I am seeking?" He leaned back in his seat, tenting his fingers together as he did so. "You are aware of the war in Nabradia, correct?"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Loud bombshells and explosions rocked the air, nearly making a poor researcher within the Arcadian airship '_Ifrit_' drop the countless amount of paperwork he was buried in. This loss normally would have sent him scrambling for the lost pages, but his 'room' kept the space his papers could get to at a bare minimum.

A tuft of messy brown hair ruffed from the researcher's head like that of an unkempt Cockatrice, and a pair of reading glasses sat haphazardly upon his nose, reflecting the poor light that was mounted upon a shabby metallic desk in front of him. "Blast it all!"

BOOM!

Again, _Ifrit_ shook from the power of another attack, this time sending the hapless Marcus Lentil slamming into the wall behind him. "Ow! I didn't mean it literally!" He snapped at nothing in particular. The airship shuddered violently in response, red alarms suddenly blaring over the sound of war outside.

Marcus sighed unhappily, gathering his papers together for the seventh time. Although Arcadian victory was assured to him over and over again, Marcus had the dubious feeling that he would be a casualty of war on such a rickety and old airship like the '_Ifrit_'. Even the forces of overwhelmed Nabudis could shoot the old bird down with a few well placed arrows, for Ultima's sake!

"Why am I even here?!" Marcus yelled over the din of the alarms, stuffing the paperwork into a folder nearby as he did so. Yet again, the ship shook violently, this time making the researcher fall from his chair and crash to the floor from the impact. From his pocket a red orb flew, rolling along the tiled floor and away from its owner.

Marcus saw it go and gasped loudly, already scrambling to try and snatch it back. "Oh no!"

The orb rolled through a small grate on the floor, its red glow illuminating its fall deep into the bowels of the _Ifrit_. Marcus watched the glow fade from sight, horrified at the loss.

…Until he remembered that he still had the pretty green, purple, yellow, and blue ones back at his flat in Arcades, tucked safely underneath his bed in an old box. However, it still was an unfortunate loss because that was the only _red_ orb he possessed. Unlike the other orbs, which only sat in his hands like colored glass, that particular orb gave him a feeling of…power, Marcus supposed, when he held it.

Maybe one day he would see it again-

**BOOM!**

**--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---**

The _Ifrit_ exploded in a huge display of fire, the entire ship engulfed with unforgiving and voracious flame. Slowly, the nose of the airship dipped, flying over the city of Nabudis in a flaming display. As the metals that covered the once imposing ship curled and twisted in the fire, a small red orb that burned like the fire surrounding it dropped from an exhaust vent. The crimson orb twirled in the air and sparkled in the midnight sky like burning refuse that came from the ship itself.

The orb bounced on a nearby roof, continuing its decent into the war-torn city of Nabudis. It bounced from rooftop to rooftop, past grappling soldiers and avian steeds. It kept traveling onward, and remarkably, managed to avoid every soldier that would come and almost block its progress. The orb hopped down a flight of stairs, through a terrace, and finally to a section of the city that led underneath the majestic palace itself. Nimbly, it rolled through a small window-like opening and dropped several hundred feet into the bowels of the Nabudis fortress.

Slowly, its bounce diminished and the orb rolled onward, through the underground dungeons of the Nabudis fortress. The orb headed straight for a deep and dank well at the end of its path and reached the well without any trouble at all. The red orb teetered at the lip of the well…

And fell.

The orb traveled downwards, flying through a mist-like substance on the way down. In response, the mist it flew through rushed to the orb, collecting into it almost too eagerly to be considered natural. The shine of the orb glowed brighter and brighter on the way down, illuminating the stone walls around it in a harsh red light.

It hit the ground and bounced, this time in a dark and wet passageway. Lights above it flickered dimly as it rolled and bounced onward, down the passageway. It hit a rock and ricocheted off of it, hitting a switch nearby. A rumbling sounded off as it rolled into a generator room for the passageway, a gate slamming shut behind it with a mighty 'clank'.

Slowly, the orb crept along at a snail's pace, and finally stopped at rest at the bottom stair of the room. The brilliant glow from the orb never faltered once…

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

_**Two Years Later…**_

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Burrough the Bangaa sighed softly, his old eyes focused on the gate in front of him wearily. In the dimness his small 'Fire' spell provided, he could see that the gate to the inner generator room was locked. With the power out, there would be no chance of getting inside unless a stroke of luck came to him.

Longingly, the Bangaa peered through the bars, spying a light of red in the dark room. For months he had tried everything possible to get to and obtain the mysterious trinket that glowed blood red in the dark. The Barheim Passage was dangerous to travel, he knew, but that trinket called out to him…almost mockingly at that.

A shuffle sound alerted Burrough, making him spin around in surprise. A colorful, but metallic, insect stood a few feet behind him, hissing vilely. A Mimic...it must have heard him, Burrough thought. Unlike the ones Burrough saw commonly in the passage, this Mimic was three times as big. Unfortunately, it looked three times as mean too.

"Skkktz!" The Mimic hissed and charged, its multicolored abdomen flashing in the dark corridor. Nimbly, Burrough leaped to the side, whipping out an old spear from his back strap as soon as he landed. The Mimic reared its wickedly sharp forelegs and lashed, but was stopped by Burrough's spear at the last moment.

With a mighty heave, the old blue Bangaa slammed the bug into the wall and heard a satisfying 'crunch' come from the Mimic, followed by a horrid wail. Sparks leapt from the Mimic in jolts, making the beast shiver and jerk about dumbly.

"Nasty beastie, aren't you?" Burrough gave a rusty chuckle, watching the Mimic as it tried to stand back up. The insect-like creature hobbled awkwardly on its long legs, gave one more shriek, and fell over.

Making sure it was dead; Burrough quickly searched the remains for anything he could sell back at the Nabudis Fortress. Unfortunately, it seemed as if the beast held nothing of value except what looked like a tiny trinket, probably something that could be used on a mechanical device.

Burrough had an odd feeling that the object he held was probably needed in the generator room just beyond that blasted gate behind him. He gave another chuckle, this time at the twisted irony of the situation. "Always my luck." With a flick of his scaly wrist, he chucked the piece through the small opening of the gate. Making sure it landed deep within the dim room, he turned to walk away. However…before he could even take one step-

**BAM!**

A loud crashing sound came from inside the generator room, followed by a plume of dust. Burrough jumped at the sound, immediately alert to his surroundings. Gripping his spear, the old Bangaa peered into the dim chamber beyond…and heard…voices?

Hume voices by the sound of it. The tones were too light to be the guttural Seeq, and not nearly as recognizable as how Bangaa normally spoke. By the sound and frequency of the voices, Burrough determined there had to be four within the interior of the room, three males and one female by the sound of it. He only made out a few words from their conversation, noting that the youngest sounding male seemed to be rather upset at the moment.

"Hrm…" The old Bangaa kept close to the wall nearby. The sound of steps came from within, followed by the sound of clanking metallic objects. Supposedly, the sound must have been coming from the weapons they were toting around. The room had remained silent for a moment, before a gruff male voice spoke.

"There seems to be no way out of this place. The gate is shut."

"There's always a way out, do not fret too much about it. It's only a minor inconvenience." A suave sounding Hume voice replied coolly. Burrough heard one of the Humes walk to a wall nearby, obviously looking for some sort of box that could operate the gate. The other three, by the sound of movements, were standing somewhere higher than the suave Hume, possibly on some stairs…

"What's that?" The youngest male Hume finally spoke, and sounded somewhat curious.

"Hm?" The gruff Hume grunted curiously, but only just.

"That glowing thing."

Burrough's reptilian pupils shrunk. Did that Hume see-?

"Oh?" The suave Hume, this time, sounded off. "Perhaps it's something we can use to work this blasted gate…"

Click-clacks of heels from the woman of the group came. The orb, to Burrough's horror, rose from its resting position. The orb still glowed in its alluring crimson light. The orb seemed to turn, as if the woman was inspecting it.

"…Fran? What is it?" Again, the suave Hume. This time, he sounded concerned. Briefly, Burrough wondered why…

"This orb. It reeks of Mist." The woman, Fran, said tacitly. Her voice softened, "It cries."

"Huh?" The younger male Hume sounded mightily confused. "What's she talking about?"

"Fran?" The suave Hume sounded very concerned, but it seemed as if the woman wasn't responding. It remained quiet for minutes afterward, in what Burrough thought to be quite uncomfortable by the tension he could sense in the room.

Finally, the woman spoke. "…I have never seen its like before." She sounded very faint.

"Let me see that for a moment." The suave man sounded authoritive now. An airy sigh came from Fran, as though she were relieved. Indeed, the orb had been taken from her by the looks of things. Perhaps the orb stole the life from those who held it? Whatever the case, Burrough was glad he did not obtain it now. What if the orb stole his life, simply because he held it in his scaly palm?

"…" The orb suddenly flew into the air in a graceful arc, followed by a surprised yelp from the young male Hume. "What do you think, Vaan?"

"Uhh…" 'Vaan' sounded surprised still. "…It's very warm?"

"Besides that." The other Hume sounded tired, as though he was talking to a mere child. "Do you sense anything else?"

"No…am I supposed to?"

An exasperated sigh came from the suave man. "Alright then." The orb changed hands yet again, probably back to the suave man. Burrough blinked. It seemed as if the orb did not harm the Humes, except for the female. Maybe it didn't steal people's life force then?

"Might I see that for a moment?" The gruff Hume finally spoke. Burrough noted that the man sounded very curious now. Again, the orb traveled in a tossed arc, but looked like it was caught without much surprise. Burrough watched the orb slowly turn in the dark, watching as the light went from dim to bright very quickly. The gruff man grunted in surprise, and Burrough finally saw into the dimness of the room.

The red light shone onto every crevice the room had to offer, allowing even the poor-sighted Bangaa to view inside. He saw that he was partially right about the people within. Obviously, only three of them were Hume and male, for the fourth looked like an exotic woman with rabbit ears and a peculiar presence. The three Humes varied in appearance, the youngest looking perhaps around eighteen years old. The eldest was the man holding the now-blinding red orb.

"What'd you do?!" The youngest Hume shouted angrily. Burrough saw a deep glare that the boy gave to the eldest man, one that spoke of deep hatred indeed…

The older man shook his head in shock, his longer hair waving behind his head. "I did nothing! It started glowing itself!"

"Well, it shed a bit of light on our situation-…hello?" The third male Hume, the one that sounded suave at least, looked to the ground. He knelt down and picked up…

Burrough slammed his palm onto his face. It was that stupid device he found on the Mimic! "Why did I throw it?!" He grumbled furiously to himself. Had he not thrown it, he could have traded them the orb for the device! Mentally, Burrough was kicking himself for such rotten luck.

"What is that Balthier?" Vaan asked, finally saying the man's name. 'Balthier' only brushed past him and the older, unnamed, man, heading up the stairs.

The rabbit-woman, Fran, eyed the orb that the older Hume held. "Something within it stirs." One of her ears twitched suddenly and her eyes widened. "What?"

"What is it-?" Vaan started to ask, but stopped abruptly. "Agh!" Burrough was alert for a brief moment, before blinding pain erupted in his eyes. Hissing out some foul Bangaa words, he took a step back and rubbed his eyes.

"Got it!" Balthier's voice came cheerily from the top of the room. "Sorry for the lack of warning, I wasn't entirely sure it would work."

"Oww…" Vaan whined. All the lights within the passage erupted to life as soon as the generator was fixed; contrasting harshly to the deep darkness that everyone had become accustomed to. Much eye-rubbing followed, as did a gradual eye adjustment for the blue Bangaa that stood against the wall adjacent to the gate.

Balthier came back down the stairs of the generator room, heading straight for the console with the switch nearby. With a simple flick, a groan came from the gate as rust and dust shifted from years of immobility. Slowly, the gate pulled all the way up and allowed Burrough to finally saunter inside. He still had the spots in his vision, unfortunately, so he plopped down in the corner nearby and sighed wearily, blatantly ignoring the stares he was receiving. Truth be told, he was dead tired from journeying into the Barheim Passage, and the disappointment of not obtaining the mysterious red orb drove his stamina into the ground.

The young Hume, Vaan, approached him. "Uhm…what're you doing here?"

Burrough let out a rusty laugh. "I came seeking this and that to sell at the Nabudis Fortress. Was trying to get in this room, but couldn't figure it out." He decided to leave the orb out of the conversation. It didn't matter what he said, for he knew they would not give up such a mysterious treasure to him. Might as well gain Gil at least… "You'll need supplies for up ahead. It gets pretty rough, and many things lurk in this passage." Tossing his traveling pack over his shoulder, Burrough opened it, revealing a surprising stock of items.

Vaan took one look at the items before he promptly took out a sizeable bag of Gil.

…Burrough had to admit, this venture didn't go unrewarded. He sold quite a bit of items, including magicks, weapons, and armor to the young man, who in turn gave items to his comrades, excluding the older man who held the shiny orb still. A gnawing feeling entered the back of his head, and he cleared his throat just as the group readied to leave.

"That charge won't last forever. Any use of electricity will mean lights out and things get tougher when it's dark, believe me." Burrough said sagely. "Be careful when you're wandering around."

Seemingly taking his advice, the strange group left Burrough to his own. The old Bangaa listened as their footsteps slowly melted away from earshot.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

In all his years, former Captain Basch Von Ronsenburg of Dalmasca had never seen such an amazingly strange trinket as what he held now. The red orb glimmered in the light of the Barheim Passage, and twinkled whenever it was turned at an angle to the light source itself. Within it, Basch could see a swirling sort of Mist churn. Whatever the orb was, it was certainly peculiar at best.

At the moment, he and trio of thieves he was traveling with were standing in a junction devoid of monster activity of any sort. A blue crystal stood not too far away, and the exit to the blasted passage was just ahead. Balthier and Fran stood near the crystal, which was expected since both of them needed the rejuvenation after racing to kill a Battery Mimic before it sucked the electricity to the passage dry. The run uphill and the fight afterwards were very tiring, apparently.

Vaan looked as if he was sorting through the weapon supplies. He seemed upset, which was understandable to Basch. Balthier's earlier suggestions to the youth made him give up his sword in favor of some sort of rod Vaan found out in the Dalmasca Estersand before the whole business of 'stealing from the Royal Palace of Rabanastre' or something like that. The weapon was not manly, Basch admitted, but he was more capable with the sword than Vaan was, and Vaan had the most licenses for magicks besides Fran.

Needless to say, it worsened Vaan's mood about the whole affair of traveling with the supposed 'traitor' of Dalmasca. Indeed, another glare was sent his way by the young man yet again. Basch sighed softly and returned to looking at the orb he held.

For some reason, throughout the whole time he had held the orb, it had shined and twinkled. When the others held it, the orb sat in their hands as a stone, and did nothing. Fran had said, earlier, that the orb only 'liked' him. Vaguely, Basch wondered why it was so. Why would this orb respond to him?

"That orb entrances you, yes?"

Basch tore his eyes away from it, looking at the Viera who spoke to him. Her eyes were also on the orb. Looking back to it, Basch nodded once. "That it does."

"Strange…isn't it?" Balthier said, eyeing the orb also. "What would you say it's made out of? Crystal, perhaps?"

"It feels more like glass." Basch replied, feeling the texture underneath his fingers. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fran shake her head slightly in a negative response. The Viera looked troubled, for it seemed as if she didn't want to say anything about the orb at first.

"…It is…Mist. I think." For the first time, Basch detected confusion in her voice. "It is solid, yet…it does not burn like the Mist does. The Mist trapped within it burns, but the shell of the orb dulls its flame."

Balthier looked thoughtful for a moment, "Solid Mist that isn't Mist, eh?"

"Hm." Basch turned the orb in his fingers and could feel the warmth pulse within it, like a beating heart.

"Can we get going?" Vaan suddenly snapped, sounding irate. "I want to get out of here." More or less, Basch had the distinct feeling Vaan wanted to get away from _him_. The two sky pirates across from Basch looked to one another and shrugged, picking up their weapons that they leaned against a nearby wall. Basch stood up from his seat on the ground, also retrieving his weapon and shield. The four headed right into the room ahead, all eyes on the exit.

Vaan, who was originally leading the other three, stopped in his tracks and stared. Balthier and Fran stopped as well, Balthier gaining a look of disgust on his face fairly quickly. Basch looked past them, to what they saw as well.

Green slime dribbled downwards, oozing out what _looked_ like a treasure container onto the stone floor. However, as soon as the 'treasure' landed, legs straightened out and stood up, revealing a tiny Battery Mimic. The beast skittered around a very large leg, which towered higher than view from the other room. It was gigantic, and had a beautiful array of colors upon its massive thorax. Its legs moved as it noticed the group of four, and hissed loudly. The tiny Mimic underneath it skittered away to an open wire where three other tiny Mimics sucked the electricity from it. Behind him, Basch heard a slam, and turned.

A pair of huge gates now blocked their exits.

Now facing the four, the Mimic Queen gave an almighty shriek and lunged. One of her thick legs kicked up, barely missing Vaan as he dashed away from it at the last moment. Balthier and Fran split up and ran around the huge beast, already attacking it with as much power as they could muster. Vaan stood at a distance and fired first a Fire spell, followed by a Blizzard spell at the huge insect.

Basch, however, noticed the lights were beginning to dim and turned. The tiny Battery Mimics were sucking at the open wires eagerly, and were consuming a great deal of energy by the look of it. If it got dark, then they would have much more to worry about than just the Mimic Queen…

Unsheathing his sword, Basch charged at two tiny Battery Mimics that were nearby and sliced one in half right away. The second one lunged at him, but was stopped by the shield Basch threw up in defense. The tiny creature bounced of and squealed in fury, jumping again only to be sliced in half like the one before it. Without looking at the Queen, Basch ran to the next open wire where a third Mimic gorged on the electricity, swinging quickly to end the beast's life as well-

"Ooof!" A huge leg came from nowhere, slamming Basch into the ground before he could even turn around. The Mimic Queen seemed to be in a rage, energy around it crackled as it shook…

Basch's pupils shrank, but his realization came too late.

"SSSKKTTZZZ!" The Queen crackled magnificently as bolts of painful white light came from it. The power and force of the magick slammed into all four, and Basch saw two of his comrades fall from the intensity of the attack. A powerful swing of a leg took out the last, Vaan, before he could heal himself with a Cure spell. Now it was only Basch and the Mimic Queen.

And sadly, the Queen had him pinned under its insect-foot.

Scrambling, Basch reached into his pockets to get a Potion out before the Queen took him out of commission as well. Magick crackled around it, and Basch was sure the Mimic Queen was intent on finishing him off with some sort of 'Thunder' spell. Grasping an object in his pocket, Basch pulled it out seconds before the Thunder spell was cast.

He held the red orb.

Around that moment, Basch had the distinct feeling of regret, knowing he was going to perish from this monster. The lightning flew fast towards him, and in a sorry defense, Basch held the orb up in the way of the spell.

The Thunder spell hit the orb straight on.

In a brilliant flash, the orb glowed with the intensity of the sun, blinding both Basch and the Mimic Queen with its light. The Queen squealed, lifting its leg off of Basch as it stumbled around blindly, shrieking all the while. Basch rolled and stood, gripping his sword tightly. He couldn't see, but he could hear the shuffling of the Queen in front of him.

**SLASH!**

The sound of metal ripping metal tore through the room like a thunderclap, and a dying shriek of the Mimic Queen sounded out. The air seemed to fill with electricity as the Queen hit a wall. By now, Basch could see a deep gash in it that wasn't there before a moment ago. "What-?"

Above, rocks began to fall. Basch took a step back then looked for his comrades, but saw no one there except for the dead Mimic Queen. Where'd they go?!

Not seeing any other option, Basch ran for the open exit and into the bright sunlight a moment before rubble and rocks fell behind him, blocking the way back into the Barheim Passage. Dust flew into the air, and for a moment, Basch had to readjust to the change of light.

"Wasn't expecting that to happen, honestly."

Basch recognized the voice immediately, "Balthier?" He looked blearily to the left, seeing the aforementioned sky pirate sitting on a rock.

"Yes?"

"How did you escape?" Basch was completely mystified; all three of them were unconscious when he was fighting the Mimic Queen. How did they get out unscathed?!

"You tell me. All the exits were sealed, all hope of help cut off." Balthier shrugged, and then gestured towards Basch's left. "Yet…"

Basch turned his head to the left, and blinked in surprise. A man knelt next to Vaan, shaking the young man to try and wake him up. A huge sword, bigger than any sword Basch had seen in all his years was strapped to the man's back, and the weight of it seemingly did not bother the man at all. Midnight-black hair contrasted prominently from the man's head, and was spiked ridiculously back, missing a few strands for the bangs.

Even more peculiar were his clothing. He wore a dark and thick ensemble that did not fit right with the warm climate they were in at the moment. The cloth for the clothing also looked very different from anything Basch had seen before.

"Ugh…" Vaan stirred, his eyes opening slightly. "Wha?"

The mysterious man smiled in relief. "Phew! Thought you weren't going to make it for a second! That oversized bug took a lot out of you guys, huh?"

The man certainly had an…odd style of speaking.

"Bug? You mean that Mimic Queen?" Vaan asked as he sat up. The man stood up and helped Vaan up too, nodding as he did so.

"Yup. Thing was almost dead though, so I just gutted it as soon as I saw it." He shrugged modestly, "Fair enough to say you guys wore it down."

"Actually, only three of us are male." A tacit voice came from nearby, making the mysterious man jump in surprise. Basch watched him turn, and blinked. The man before him looked so young but his eyes held some appearance of age Basch could not oversee. It was the same look superior officers in battle held…

The man laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just a term, I didn't mean-"

Fran's nonplussed facial expression didn't change. "Calling a collective group of beings 'guys' is not a term."

The man opened his mouth to say something in retort, but closed it again in defeat. "Right. Sorry, again. I'm not used to custom around here." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and looked around. He appeared to be mildly confused. "If I knew where 'here' is. Are we in the Corel Desert?"

Basch raised an eyebrow in a questioning way. "Corel Desert?" What was this man talking about? If he rescued them, wouldn't he know where they were in the first place?

"That's peculiar. You haven't the foggiest where we are?" This time, Balthier spoke. He looked to the man oddly, "Where did you come from?"

"Well…" The man stood there and blinked, with a blank look on his face. "…To tell you the truth, I don't really remember much." Again, he laughed sheepishly, this time because of the stares of disbelief he was receiving. "What?"

"You had to come from somewhere." Vaan pointed out. "You don't look native to Dalmasca though…"

The man now looked _very_ confused. "Dalmasca? Never heard of it."

A silence gripped the group as they stared at their mysterious rescuer. Either he was lying, or he really had no idea where he was. Basch was fairly certain the young man wasn't lying to them, for his face spoke of pure innocent confusion. Even that look would be hard to pull off convincingly. The man frowned at their stares. "What? Am I in a place like that?"

"You're in the kingdom of Dalmasca, close to the Royal City of Rabanastre." Basch said, eyeing the man with clear derision now.

"Ahh…Then I have no idea where I am, then." The man said, apparently dreadfully confused now. "This 'Royal' city sounds like a place where I can get some answers though. Are all of you heading there?"

"Yes, and you are welcome to tag along, if you must." Balthier said as he stood from the rock. The supposed 'Leading Man' strode past them, retrieving his weapon from Fran, who for the whole time had remained completely silent. Basch saw her whisper something to Balthier, causing the sky pirate to glance towards the two Seeq that stood not too far away.

"So, what's your name?" Vaan stood up, looking to the man in curiously. The man chuckled, and then unexpectedly shook hands with the young thief.

"Zack Fair, you?"

"Err, just call me Vaan." Vaan replied, wrenching his hand away from Zack's amazingly strong grip. The man grinned, and nodded.

"Alright then, 'Vaan'." Looking away from him, Zack tilted his head, looking now at Basch curiously. "…Huh."

Basch immediately felt uncomfortable. Why was he looking at him like that? "What is it?"

"You remind me of someone…I can't think of who." Zack shrugged slightly. "What's your name?"

Inwardly, Basch debated telling Zack his name. It was that…he felt as if he did not deserve the name he owned now. His 'traitorous' past would surely bring shame to his once noble name, and there was no doubt on the street people would recognize his title. However, Zack did not seem to know of Dalmasca at all. In a way, Basch was relieved that the young warrior didn't know what stigma followed him. It meant that someone wouldn't judge him for actions made long ago… "Basch Rosenburg."

Instead of flinching, or a look of horrid realization, the young man grinned yet again. "There's a last name! Why don't you have one?" Zack asked jokingly to Vaan, making the younger man look at him indignantly.

"I have a last name! It's-"

"Time to leave!" Balthier announced. He stood near the sandy ramp leading down into a valley. "I've been informed that there is a Teleport Crystal in the village nearby. We'll use that to return to Rabanastre." He turned, "Do you have a Teleport Stone, Vaan?"

"…Err…" The young man dug a hand into his pocket, pulling out a small orange stone that was the size of a pebble. "Right here."

"Then let's depart." The two sky pirates headed down into the valley, with Vaan trailing behind them. Basch watched Zack walk after them, before he too walked into the sandy valley of the Dalmasca Estersand. The young warrior hung back with Basch as the other three raced onward to dispatch a large red wolf nearby.

"So…what's the rabbit-chick and the other guy's name? I didn't catch it earlier."

Basch sighed.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** I've been playing Final Fantasy XII lately, and my crossover ideas flew towards this like metal shavings to a magnet. The beginnings of a crossover fic that will NOT contain strange pairings (yaoi included) and will be written in a style that hopefully will do both sides of the crossover justice, is what I hopefully will accomplish.

**Random Moogle:** Kupo! Sahxyel was dismayed that she could not find a decent FFVII and FFXII crossover fiction, so she decided to write this!

**Sahxyel**: If people like this, as reviews and hits will reflect public opinion, I'll continue this gladly! Until next time, dear readers!


	2. Chapter II

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter II**

"Wow…"

Basch looked to his left, watching Zack as he looked about in awe at the southern entryway of Rabanastre. At first, it seemed as if Zack was in awe at the crystal transport, but the astonishment went from marveling over the crystal to where he was at the moment. Basch noted particularly that the young man spent his gaze the most on the chocobo stables nearby, a grin quickly pulling at his youthful face. "Finally, something I recognize-…" He trailed off suddenly, his gaze locked on something Basch couldn't perceive. Without saying another word to the group, Zack hurried to the stables with his eyes wide.

For some reason, Zack reminded Basch of that small wolf pup he saw earlier at the village on the banks of the river Nebra. That pup's attention was captured just as easily as Zack's was right now…

It remained quiet as the three stood there. Basch turned slightly to gaze upon his unlikely companions. It was amazing to know he was actually standing merely steps away from the city's interior, to know that he now had freedom again, and for that he said, "…I thank you."

Balthier shifted slightly, nodding once in acknowledgment. "I'd avoid crowds if I were you. In this town, you're still a traitor, you know."

Basch merely brushed the comment off. He was no fool, and knew that someone in Rabanastre would know his face. In that case, it would also mean…"The Resistance will surely find me soon." His eye caught Vaan's, and for that, he turned fully around to face the young man.

"Fates will we meet again. I would pay my respects to your brother." With that, he turned to walk away.

As Basch walked away from them, towards the city, he heard Balthier speak, although he was completely sure it wasn't directed towards him. "You're a fugitive now, too. Stay low for a while-"

A sudden clamor rose up from nearby, catching Basch's attention before he could enter the city. It seemed as if it also caught everyone else's attention by the look of things. A crowd of Hume, Bangaa, and Seeq stood around the stables in a tight-knit circle, blocking view from what was happening. Several Imperial guards ran from their posts with their weapons at the ready, towards the chocobo stables, and cleared away the crowd to reveal…

"Ahhhh! Kupo!! Help! Let me go!" Gurdy the chocobo merchant yelled. The Moogle squirmed and thrashed in the arms of a man who looked to be positively delighted despite the situation. Even from a distance, Basch could clearly see the man's blue eyes glow as he looked to the soldiers who were summoned. Before the guards could say anything, Zack held Gurdy out towards them as if he were showing off a fantastic treasure.

"Look! An actual Moogle! Amazing, right?"

It was at that moment that Basch seriously wondered about the man's mental health. He watched as the soldiers yanked Gurdy away from Zack, all of them yelling about disturbing the peace just to state the obvious. Zack looked positively put out by being reprimanded and turned to the Moogle, offering what seemed to be an apology. Basch couldn't hear Zack over the crowd, who all found voices and were berating the young man for being so foolish.

Out of the corner of his eye, Basch saw Balthier, Fran, and Vaan watching too. Balthier shook his head disapprovingly while Fran seemed nonplussed. Vaan was simply staring.

Deciding it wasn't wise to stay, Basch turned to leave. He had pressing matters to attend to and couldn't afford to stand around. He had wasted so much time in that cage in Nalbina; more time to lose would be nothing less than a terrible waste of clear freedom. Besides, Zack would be fine to his own, and would probably return to his strange home soon…if the poor boy still had his wits, that is.

**--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---**

Teriana Naaem loved her job. Ever since she was hired to be the attendant of the Rabanastre Aerodome, she had believed she would enjoy helping people with their flights around the world. It surely was an interesting job, for she had seen and met some very odd collections of all intelligible creatures that occupied Ivalice. She had seen shifty Sky Pirates, exotic travelers, rugged hunters, modest merchants, and hardened warriors travel through the gates of the Aerodome, all going to different places around Ivalice. Balfoheim Port, Arcades, the Nabudis Fortress, and even the sky city of Bhujerba were only a few of the places all of these travelers either went to or returned from. Because of her excellent listening skills, as well as a map to study if she were ever bored at the receptionist counter, Teriana had herself an extensive knowledge of geography. At the very least, she knew exactly where every major city in Ivalice was…

Or, at least she _thought_ she did.

"Seriously, you don't have Midgar somewhere on that flight sheet?" The man asked earnestly, peering at the parchment she held. "That place is really major…"

"No sir, there is no city on my listing, or the map, that is called 'Midgar'." Teriana sighed. "All of our flights are listed here-"

"Junon, then!" The man said frantically. "How about that? It has a landing strip; I'm pretty sure that it-"

"Isn't on the map." Teriana was starting to become frustrated. This man had been doing nothing for quite a while now except list off cities that clearly did not exist. "Sir, if you're planning to waste my time, I'm afraid I will have to call security to remove you from the premises."

"I'm not wasting your time!" The man sounded almost as frustrated as she did now. "Look. I'm a SOLDIER First Class for the Shinra Electric Company that is based in Midgar. I need to get back there; otherwise I'll be considered 'MIA' or worse and given up as a lost cause. My PHS doesn't have signal here, so I'm sorry if I'm causing you trouble but I _really_ need a flight to Midgar." He looked at her earnestly with his strange blue eyes that seemed to glow in the light. "Please?"

Teriana stared at him. Honestly, she did not understand a word he had just said, added that everything he did say sounded like nothing but pure nonsense. Looking to the left, she motioned towards a soldier clad in metal armor. Seeing her, the Imperial soldier on duty walked over, spear held tightly in his grip. "Ma'am?"

"This man seems to be ill. Can you please escort him off the premises?" Teriana asked. The man gave her a look of pure betrayal and desperation as the soldier placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm NOT ill! I'm telling the truth!"

"Come on lad. Stop harassing the clerk." The soldier said gruffly, tugging the man out of the Aerodome in a way that didn't rattle the already clearly disturbed man. As soon as the soldier led him outside, Teriana gave a soft sigh.

It was too bad that man was insane. If he wasn't, she would've thought him to be rather cute. "Oh well…"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Coincidences just seemed to reoccur, Basch thought.

First it had seemed only minor, for he had met Vaan yet again within the Resistance's hidden lair within Rabanastre's Lowtown. However, the coincidences kept escalating from there. He discovered that 'Amalia' had met Vaan before the whole business at Nalbina, and also the convenient turnaround Vaan offered to Balthier in order for transport to Bhujerba. Had Vaan's friend Penelo not been kidnapped by this 'Ba'Gamnan', Basch was sure Vaan would not have staked his Goddess Magicite for simple transport.

Of course, Basch found this latest coincidence to be quite unnerving.

As they all approached the Aerodome, intent on their next destination, none other than Zack Fair sat on the front steps of the entryway. Nearby, a soldier stood, and seemed to be watching Zack with a wary eye.

"Zack?" Vaan approached him first, causing Zack to glance up. The man looked very upset, but a small smile sprang to his face upon seeing Vaan. He waved oddly, for he only used two fingers to wave with, much like a very lazy salute.

"Hey." He sighed and stood up, "Thought I wasn't going to see all of you again. What're you doing here?"

"We're intent on traveling." Balthier said, not even paying the Imperial soldier nearby a single glance. "I thought you were going to travel as well…What are you doing out here?"

Zack chuckled slightly, "Long story. It kinda involves nobody knowing any of the places I know." He frowned slightly, "No one's even heard of Shinra…and they have influences everywhere. I don't get it."

Basch saw an odd twinkle appear in Balthier's eye, "Well, if this 'Shinra' has so much influence, I'd wager you would find your answers in Bhujerba. People of all kinds travel through; surely someone would know." Fran shot the sky pirate a warning glare, but Balthier appeared to have not noticed. "We're all heading there now, if you'd care to join."

"Really? …What's the catch?" Zack asked suspiciously. Basch, admittedly, was surprised. The young man was quite perceptive, and for a moment, Basch was sure he would be easily duped. For a man who had bouts of insanity, there seemed to be moments of lucidity as well.

Balthier took the suspicion in stride, "Catch? There is no catch. All I ask is for assistance in case some unfavorable situation comes up." Basch had the innate feeling Balthier was speaking of either the Imperial fleet discovering their whereabouts or the possibility of a trap in Bhujerba set by one 'Ba'Gamman'. Either way, an extra sword would be helpful in both situations, Basch realized. He looked to the sky pirate more with respect for the concept.

"Hm…" Zack crossed his arms, apparently mulling the offer over. "…I guess that could work. I'm not getting any answers here, anyway." Still, Zack did not look as if he were at ease with the situation. "You sure I can get some answers there?"

Balthier didn't answer the question directly, instead opting to head inside the Aerodome and let the young man decided on his own. Fran strode past Zack, clearly unhappy with the situation now, however she hadn't said one thing to the young man since they had returned to Rabanastre. Basch found that to be rather strange; why did the Viera dislike Zack?

"Are you coming?" Vaan asked Zack as he headed in. Zack watched the younger man enter the Aerodome and stood at the entrance for a long time.

Basch cleared his throat and started to walk in, only for Zack to stop him before he could enter. He regarded Zack with a questioning look, but Zack was glancing conspiratorially towards an Imperial guard standing not too far away. The guard was the same from the post a few steps away, but it seemed as if he had moved closer, with his spear held cautiously. "Is this man traveling with you? If he's not, I cannot allow him back into the Aerodome."

"He is." Basch replied shortly, already heading into the massive building. He distinctly heard the guard grumble something under his breath, but judging by the steps behind him, Basch figured that Zack was allowed back in. Now the question was how he got banned from entering by himself?

The answer came not a moment later; a woman at the reception desk took one look at the young man and slammed a sign onto her station, quickly hurrying away afterwards as if a rabid wolf chased her. Basch once again glanced at Zack and saw a slight look of embarrassment on his face. "Oh man…"

Whatever happened between those two, Basch doubted he would ever know or even _want_ to know for that matter. Shaking his head, he continued through the crowded Aerodome towards the entry to the airship terminals. Zack kept up at an even pace and had even managed to dodge several baggage trolleys that careless travelers pushed about with reckless abandon. Murmurs started up around halfway through the Aerodome; making Basch briefly suspect that someone had recognized him in the crowd.

"_He looks so foreign_…"

"_Look at the size of that sword!_"

"_How does he keep his hair standing up like that,_ _Mother?_"

"_Those eyes glow unnaturally, they do_."

"_Maybe he's Rozarrian?_"

Needless to say, Basch's worry abated fairly quickly. A groan came from Zack, who also seemed to have heard the murmurs from the passing throngs. Basch picked up the pace through the crowd afterwards and led Zack to a less dense area of common travelers. Luckily, it was around where they needed to go because Balthier stood in an unassuming corner, apparently waiting for them.

"You are aware we have a schedule to adhere to, as well as keeping a low profile?" Balthier asked dryly as he stepped away from the wall.

"Sorry, I can't help my looks." Zack shrugged, although he didn't look to be very apologetic anyway. Balthier shook his head again in amusement, turning to walk into a particular hangar. Basch followed him while Zack sauntered along behind, all of them rounding a corner into a very large room containing the most unique airship Basch had ever seen.

Apparently, the same held for Zack. The young warrior looked over the airship with an eyebrow raised in surprise. "That's your airship? It's really…small."

"Size does not always matter…" Balthier replied, although he sounded a tad annoyed by Zack's comment. "The _Strahl_ may not be the biggest airship in Ivalice, but she makes up in both stealth and speed."

"Uh-huh." Zack said dazedly, sounding as if he had not heard what Balthier had said. He headed into the airship, stopping every once in a while to look over something. Balthier watched him go, and yet again shook his head.

"Are you regretting bringing him along?" Basch asked lowly.

"If he wasn't so much of an asset, I wouldn't have invited him." Balthier sighed softly, already heading for the airship. Basch also sighed, albeit a tad louder, and followed the sky pirate. As soon as they were in the airship, Balthier hurried along the thin walkway, straight for the cockpit. Basch entered it as well a few moments later, to find that the area was a little tight of space. Perhaps if Zack wasn't accompanying them it wouldn't have felt so cramped, but Basch felt as if he shouldn't complain over a minor inconvenience. In the utmost front, both Balthier and Fran worked at the controls.

"How flies Bhujerba?" Basch asked. He was curious of what became the sky city after the Nabudis War, and whether the Empire had a hold there or not.

"Oh, she's free as can be, for now." Balthier replied, flipping yet another switch on the console.

"…Meaning?" This time, Zack spoke up. He, at the moment, was leaning casually on the port wall, watching the two in the front with slight interest.

"In terms of the Empire, Bhujerba is free. For how long is anyone's guess." Balthier replied shortly. Basch saw a strange look appear on Zack's face, as though he were working something out in his head.

"Okay, so the Empire's bad. Right?"

Vaan sharply looked to Zack in surprise, "Well, yeah! It's because of the Empire that Dalmasca isn't free, and why so many people died in the Nabudis War a few years ago. They have control over most of Ivalice!"

"'Bad' is an understatement." Basch muttered lowly, remembering the dreadful way the Nabudis War ended. It still sickened him to the core to recall what happened to the King of Dalmasca and all of the soldiers who valiantly tried to protect him.

Zack still appeared to be thinking, although he did nod when Vaan spoke of the Empire. Basch figured Zack heard his comment as well. "Alright then, I think I understand why people kept shooting glares at those guards in the Aerodome now…" He chuckled a little, "Sounds a lot like Shinra to me, with the whole 'total control over an entire continent and general public dislike' thing going on."

"What? You actually have something like the Empire where you come from?" Vaan asked skeptically.

"Yup. The difference is, I guess, that you could say _I_ work for the bad guys." He laughed good-naturedly, despite the look he received from Vaan. "I can hear you thinking 'Really?' from here Vaan!"

Vaan indeed had a very surprised facial expression at the moment, "You work for them?"

"I'm a SOLDIER First Class for Shinra's army; the best of the best." Zack was smirking now, and Basch was certain Zack's pride couldn't have been more pronounced. His smirk fell as soon as he saw Vaan's sullen expression. "It's not so bad; Shinra's been running most of Gaia since before I was born. Being in SOLDIER is a big thing back home, and it's not like there're many other jobs besides working for Shinra in the first place."

Basch frowned. It sounded as if this 'Shinra' had successfully tamed every resistance it came across. It was unnatural for a power to control so much land, and judging by how Zack was earnestly explaining why he was even a part of something so massive, was because every hope for independence had been ultimately smashed by the soldiers of Shinra itself. Would Zack's home be an example of what would happen if Arcades continued its war onward to Rozarria and won?

"I suggest all of you cease that tongue-flapping, otherwise you're liable to bite it off." Balthier suddenly said. A great whirring noise stirred within the ship, prompting Basch to take a seat behind Fran. Vaan quickly sat behind Balthier, making Zack unwillingly opt for a seat on the floor. From his seat, Basch could see that the _Strahl_ rose from its position in the hangar, slowly cresting out of the open roof and into the bright daylight. A louder sound came from the airship, followed by a tiny 'click'.

VROOSH!

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The flight and landing went without incident, which Basch had to admit was surprising considering the Arcadian fleets that took space at the Bhujerba Aerodome. The great city in the sky, famous for its magicite mine, was swamped with Arcades' guards. For a city that should have been free, Basch was certain that the freedom was an illusion to all…

Vaan was watching the guards go about their business in the Aerodome, a slight frown on his face. "Even here? I thought this place was supposed to be free?"

"As free as the Empire allows it to be." Basch said lowly, as to not alert the soldiers nearby. He looked to the left to see Balthier already heading for the exit nonchalantly, with Fran following him.

A group of soldiers raced past their group as they headed for the exit, causing Balthier to pause and turn around for a brief moment. "You're a dead man; don't forget it…and no names." Basch acknowledged the advice with a very small nod as he followed the sky pirates out of the busy Aerodome. As usual, Vaan and Zack lagged behind, both of them talking amongst themselves about Bhujerba as they walked. Basch could detect both of them were mildly excited about being at the floating city, and indeed, as soon as they stepped outside, Zack ran to the nearby railing to peer over.

"This place really _does_ float in the air! Oh man, everyone back home won't believe this!" Zack seemed to be very excited…yet again. Basch had to again wonder why the young man would get so excited over commonalities of Ivalice…Perhaps he didn't have floating cities back at 'Gaia'?

Balthier noticed the young man as well and sighed in exasperation, "Get back over here. We're here on business, not on holiday."

Zack reluctantly came back from the railing, but his attention was yet again caught; this time he looked towards the city in curiosity. Balthier took this change as a good incident, and walked onward. "The Lhusu Mines are just up ahead. Though, I do hear there's not much left there these days…"

"You're on your way to the mines?" A voice said from behind, prompting everyone to turn and see who spoke. A rather short person, perhaps even a child, stood at the railing opposite from where Zack stood earlier. The 'child's' dark hair and regal looking clothing fluttered in the strong breeze that came over the bridge. As soon as the child realized they had stopped, he hopped off of the railing to approach them. "Then please, allow me to accompany you. I've an errand to attend to there."

Basch regarded the child, but still held his own suspicions. "What manner of errand?"

"What errand? I might ask the same of you…" Slowly, the boy walked among them, eyeing each of them curiously. Basch noted that the young man looked to Zack for the longest, eyes first on his appearance, then the massive sword, before turning to address them yet again.

Balthier tilted his head slightly, "Right, come on then." Apparently, the sky pirate was willing to take the child, just as long as he ceased asking questions at least…

"What?" Vaan looked to Balthier incredulously, but got no response back.

Basch saw a small smile creep across the boy's face. "Excellent."

"Do me a favor and stay where I can keep an eye on you." Balthier said, looking to the child with an odd twinge of suspicion in his voice. "There'll be less trouble that way."

The child seemed to glance behind Balthier, towards the Aerodome entryway. "For us both." He murmured lowly.

"So what's your name?" Vaan suddenly asked, crossing his arms as he did so. The child at first seemed to be surprised, shifting on heel to look at the young thief.

"Oh-I…I'm Lamont." 'Lamont' said, very quickly regaining his former composure. Vaan seemed to take this hesitation as some sort of fear, and rubbed his nose in a confident manner.

"Don't worry. I don't know what's in that mine, Lamont, but you're in good hands. Right, Basch?"

Basch glanced to Balthier, only to see that the sky pirate had glanced at him simultaneously in surprise. Looking back to Vaan and Lamont, Basch saw the thief looking at him expectantly, as though he were supposed to say something in reassurance.

"We can use names now?" Zack asked, glancing towards Balthier in surprise. Basch saw the sky pirate roll his eyes in a great show of utter annoyance, giving the young warrior a stern look. "Fine, fine. I'm not the one who goofed up, though." Zack coughed rather loudly, pointing towards Vaan with his thumb. The gesture was almost as good as shouting 'It was HIS fault, not mine'.

Even Vaan wasn't thick enough to miss what Zack was implying. "What was that?" He demanded, rounding on the warrior with a scowl. Zack crossed his arms, giving Vaan a very pointed look. Vaan, predictably, sighed in annoyance and headed off into Bhujerba, momentarily leaving everyone else behind.

Lamont watched the whole affair with a slightly confused look on his face. "Names?" He queried, glancing at Balthier briefly. The sky pirate merely cleared his throat and walked onward, clearly not happy with how everything turned out. Fran followed Balthier, as always, but cast a strange glance at Zack as they passed him, as though she were seeing right through him. Zack somehow seemed to miss the look entirely. Instead, he walked alongside Lamont, immediately striking up a conversation with the mysterious young lad. Basch took up the rear of the group, and could do no better than listen to what Zack and Lamont were conversing about.

"And why would you only feed Gysahl Greens to a chocobo? Don't you know that Sylkis Greens work way better when raising them?"

Apparently, they were on the subject of chocobos…

"Sylkis Greens? I've never heard of such a plant before…" Lamont tilted his head to look up at the strange warrior.

"Surprise, surprise." Zack sighed, "We have way better chocobo handling back where I come from. I haven't even seen anyone using a blue or green chocobo yet…and those are a little more common than the black chocobo-"

"The only tame chocobos are the original yellow chocobo." Lamont pointed out, "All other varieties are quite aggressive, especially the black chocobos."

Zack scoffed, "Man, you guys must be _way_ behind in the chocobo breeding business then. I bet no one's even heard of a golden chocobo!"

"Golden?" Basch asked, his curiosity finally piqued by Zack's statement. Zack nodded towards him, before looking back down towards Lamont.

"See, golden chocobos are super rare, and you can only get one by breeding a black chocobo with a particular yellow chocobo. I think they need to be 'Wonderful' chocobos in order for it to work…I dunno, I can't remember all of the details on it." Zack shrugged, but he smiled upon seeing the look on Lamont's face. For a while, the boy said nothing at all, still stunned from what Zack had said. "Cactaur got your tongue, kid?"

"Golden chocobos are listed in antiquity as being the ultimate chocobo one can own. However…breeding records on how to obtain one were lost centuries ago." Lamont said, regarding Zack in total surprise. "And yet you know a way to obtain such a legendary bird…"

Zack didn't appear to be that surprised. "Well, where I come from you just have to be a really good breeder to get one. I was thinking about trying for one, but…" A small frown appeared on his face. "I guess something came up, so I ditched the idea. Would've been really expensive to take care of all the breeding stuff anyway."

"Hm…May I ask where exactly you come from?" Lamont asked tentatively. "You do not seem to fit in with the crowds easily, and I've never seen anyone quite as eccentric in appearance as you."

Zack looked down and chuckled, "Really? I keep thinking everyone _else_ is eccentric here except me…anyway…I'm from a place called Gongaga. But…I don't think you'd know where that is unless you know about a place called 'Midgar'." Zack's eyes lit up, and he looked down at Lamont with a hopeful expression. "_Do_ you know about Midgar?"

Lamont shook his head, "I'm sorry; I've never heard of such a place."

It was hard to miss the clear disappointment on Zack's face. "Oh." He sighed loudly. "I guess I'll need to poke around more to find someone who knows about it then…This city's pretty big anyway; someone's bound to know."

"Why do you want to find somebody who knows of Midgar?" Lamont asked. Basch noticed a twinge of curiosity in Lamont's voice, and indeed the boy did look very curious.

Zack stepped over a pothole in the cobbled street, making a left at the fork ahead. Naturally, both Lamont and Basch kept pace with him. "I want to find someone who knows about it so I can get _back_. I haven't been able to figure out how I got here, or even how I'm supposed to get back. I don't even remember how I ended up in Ivalice." He chortled softly, but there was a soft tone of sadness in his voice. "It's starting to bum me out. If nobody knows about Midgar, what're the chances that I'll get back home?"

Basch regarded Zack, seeing that the problem was truly vexing the young warrior. His brow was creased with worry, and an uncharacteristic frown sat upon his face. "…What do you recall before you arrived in Ivalice, Zack?" Basch asked. He wasn't sure the question would help, but it was the only lead he could think of to help the young man find a way back to his home.

Crossing his arms, Zack stopped in front of a merchant's stand. He had a pensive look upon his face. "Hmm…Last thing I can remember…" Basch stopped also, taking a brief look around to gain some bearings on where they were at the moment.

They stood at the top of a stairwell which led down to a very wide opening in the side of a cliff-face. Nearby, a fountain trickled water down into a small canal that added a sort of architectural elegance to the stairway. Several beings stood around the fountain, all conversing to one another loudly about working in the mines. No doubt that all the Humes, Seeq, Bangaa, and Moogles were Miners for the Lhusu Mines. Vaan stood near the miners; talking to each of them about something…Balthier and Fran were standing a flight of stairs below everyone else, and were barely visible to Basch. It looked as if Fran was speaking with Balthier, with the sky pirate listening to her intently-

A loud snap interrupted Basch's thoughts, redirecting his attention back to Zack. "I was on my way back to Midgar! I remember seeing the city from the wastes but then it kinda gets fuzzy after that… But, I remember that there was a really bright flash, and then the next thing I saw was that huge Mimic Queen towering over you, Basch." Zack shrugged, "And that's it."

"Are you sure?" Basch asked.

"Yeah…Weird, huh?" Zack allowed his arms to fall back to his side, but scratched the side of his head in confusion. "A bright light…"

Lamont regarded Zack with a side-glance, a curious gleam to his dark eyes. "I suppose you will have to recall more, Zack, before you can find the answers yourself. Until then…" The boy trailed off.

Zack shrugged, "I'll have nothing better to do than follow you guys." The man quickly looked about for Fran, in case she was nearby. Upon seeing she wasn't, he sighed and continued. "Even if it is into a mine filled with monsters." With that, Zack headed down the stairs to meet up with Balthier and Fran. Vaan followed the warrior down, which left both Basch and Lamont still at the top of the stairwell.

"Such bravery…" Basch muttered underneath his breath. "How can he go on when he knows nothing at all?"

"…Optimism." Lamont replied. The boy headed onward, down the steps as well. Basch stood there, thinking about what Lamont had just said, before he too headed down. Without much to say, they looked to the entryway of the mines, then slowly walked in.

The mines, predictably, were very dark. The light from outside shone in blindingly from the entryway, casting light down a small staircase ahead of them. A dark tunnel was visible from the top of the staircase. As they headed down the stairs, towards the tunnel, the echoes of footsteps came, prompting everyone to take cover fairly quickly. Basch stood behind a pillar with Vaan, and glanced to the next pillar to see Zack and Lamont standing nearby, no doubt to use their hiding place to an advantage. Balthier and Fran hid behind the pillar to Basch's left, both of them keeping very still as the footsteps came closer, with voices that followed.

"You will forgive me for asking, but you are diverting the purest of the Magicite-"

"I can assure you it reaches Lord Vayne most discretely." A voice interrupted the first. This voice was heavy with a regal Bhujerban accent, and sounded quite familiar to Basch…

A chortle came from the first voice, though it did sound muffled, as if the speaker had their face covered to soften his words. "You wear your saddle well." The voice sneered, clearly in a mocking tone.

"Be that as it may, I have no intention of being bridled, your Honor." The Bhujerban voice replied.

"Then you prefer the whip?" The muffled voice asked snidely. "Stubbornness will not only see you broken, Excellency, but Bhujerba as well." A clinking of armor passed Basch's pillar, heading up the stairs in a hurried gait. Softer footsteps followed behind, before fully fading out of earshot. Basch looked to his left and right, to see the reactions to his companions, but saw that Lamont had already left the cover of Zack's pillar.

The youth stood not too far away, staring at the group that had just left. "Halim Ondore IV, the Marquis of Bhujerba…The Marquis served as mediator at the negotiations of Dalmasca's surrender." He paused for a moment, the added, "It would appear that he is somewhat less neutral now."

Balthier stepped out from behind his pillar, looking to Lamont as he stepped off the higher platform. "They say he's been helping the Resistance."

"They say many things." Lamont retorted smartly. Basch stepped out from behind his pillar with Vaan, hopping off the platform to meet up with Balthier and Lamont. Zack and Fran were the slowest to returning, both of them preoccupied but something else, apparently. Basch saw Balthier regard Lamont with some curiosity.

"You're certainly well informed." Balthier pointed out, a suspicious tone entering his voice. "Who did you say you were again?"

"What difference does it make?" Vaan asked rather loudly and rudely, walking in-between both Lamont and Balthier. The thief looked towards the inner tunnel with a form of intensity. "We have to find Penelo."

"And Penelo is your-?" Lamont started, but was cut off before he could finish.

"She's a friend." Vaan said, turning to look at Lamont. "She was kidnapped and taken here." With that, Vaan took off for the tunnel, yet again leaving everyone else behind. Lamont seemed to be surprised by Vaan's blatant abandonment, but everyone else, including Basch, was used to the thief's antics by now.

Zack shook his head, watching the thief go with a smile on his face. "Someone's in denial. 'Just a friend'?"

Balthier chuckled a little at Zack's sentiment, but added nothing to it. Basch did see that the sky pirate was amused by the observation, though. With no words left to really exchange, the five walked into the tunnel, and into the depths of the Lhusu Mines…

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**Sahxyel:** This was more Final Fantasy XII oriented, with no Zack POV yet…I apologize, but Zack won't get interesting until next chapter. For now, I suppose he's in culture shock from the radical change from Gaia to Ivalice. The POV will forever be in Basch's, Zack's, or some random NPC that shows up, in each chapter. The NPC used will only be used one per chapter, though, so don't dwell too much on OC development.

**Random Moogle:** And now, back from a LONG undue hiatus, the Replies to Reviews Section! Kupopo!

Replies to Reviews:

**fire spirit: **There are other crossovers of VII and XII, but I didn't see one like this... Thank you for Brownie Points and for the compliment on the beginning!

**NinjaMoogle:** That question can't be answered because, frankly, it's totally plot related. I don't like giving out spoilers, sorry. But thank you for the review!

**SharperImage:** Truth be told, Zack wasn't my first option to be the character in Ivalice. However, after some long thinking, he came out on top to be my choice. Thank you for the review!

**Damien the Prince of Darkness:** I think he realizes it, but vaguely…Thank for reviewing, by the way!

**Optimistic Pessimist: **Maybe, but not in the way you might expect. Zack won't be the only FFVII character in this story, I assure you. But, he IS the main character with the most action. Thank you for reviewing!

**Wonderfoal:** I will; I'm having fun writing Zack's parts, and I'm replaying FFXII at the same time too. Thank you for the compliment!

---

**Sahxyel:** I don't do Replies to everyone; but for the first chapter it's always worth it. Until next time faithful readers! Be sure to review if you'd like to comment on this story, or have the need to point out something that needs fixing!


	3. Chapter III

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter III**

As deep as the mines were, Basch had to suspect the mine's end would be drawing closer by now. They had slowly made their way through the Lhusu Mines, fighting countless monsters along the way. Although the beasts were not too much trouble, the undead creatures were certainly becoming nuisances now. The troublesome creatures had, on more than one occasion, ambushed them and had almost caused both Fran and Vaan to obtain serious wounds. Had Zack and Lamont, with his seemingly endless supply of Potions and Hi-Potions, not been with them, Basch had the distinct feeling they would have been much worse off.

Currently, they were resting at a place towards the end of Site Two, which lead into a room of dark blue walls and sparkling rocks of sorts. The break was sorely needed, as everyone was exhausted from such a trial of fighting.

"I never want to see Corpse Bridge again." Zack groaned, rubbing his shoulder to lose some sort of ache. Apparently, he had named the bridge they had previously crossed, which was swarming with many undead skeletons. "Fifty all at once…"

Vaan was flipping through his Clan Primer, sipping an Ether as he did so. "Well, we got a new figure in the Sky Pirate's Den because of the fifty skeletons. Take a look." He showed a page to Zack, which featured a small Moogle sitting in a drawer. When the Moogle was tapped by Zack's finger, the image on the page began to hop up and down with little cartoon-like sweatdroplets flying off of it.

Zack chortled, "That's pretty neat. How does that work?" He poked another image on the page, this time one of a cartoon Balthier atop the _Strahl_. The figure immediately took up an odd stance, like he was balancing on the airship awkwardly. "Ha! He surfs on it!"

"It works like how almost everything else works here." Vaan shrugged. "I just say it's magick and leave it at that."

"Huh." Zack poked another image next, this one featuring Fran. An arrow shot out of her tiny bow, the arrow landing on the edge of the _Strahl_ illustration a moment later. "I wish we could do things like this at home. Magic isn't as easy to come by at Gaia."

Lamont walked up to Zack, offering a Hi-Potion to him. "What do you mean by that?"

Basch looked to the boy with a slight frown on his face. Lamont had certainly been asking many questions of the late…

"Thanks. Anyway, magic back home isn't as easy to use as all of you use it here. We need something to help us cast things like Cure and Fire, otherwise we're just plain useless as magic users." The warrior chugged the Hi-Potion, then tossed the empty bottle over his shoulder. "Ahhh…much better."

"What do you need to help cast spells?" Lamont asked curiously. Zack reached behind his back, grasping the hilt of his sword to pull it out of its sheath. He pulled it over his shoulder in a fluid movement, turning it sideways to show the flat of the blade. He pointed to the two circular holes close to the hilt, which Basch had wondered briefly about before. The holes actually had a purpose?

"See these holes? This is how we harness magic back at home. We just pop a materia into a slot and we can cast magic after that. Armor also has these sort of holes so that we can hold more materia." Zack sheathed he sword again and laughed as Lamont opened his mouth, silencing the youth before he could speak. "I already know what you're going to ask. Materia are magical orbs, made from special springs that come directly from the Lifestream of the Planet. In them, they hold some sort of memory or magic that lets someone cast spells or do certain techniques, like steal."

"Did you say magickal 'orbs'?" Fran asked, actually directing a question right to the young warrior. That was strange, considering how valiantly she tried to ignore him lately…"And what of this 'Lifestream' that you speak of?"

For a moment, Zack seemed to be surprised that she actually spoke to him. "…Yes, I did say 'magical orbs'." He blinked noticeably, "…You don't know about the Lifestream?" Zack now looked very incredulous. "You're kidding, right?"

"I do not 'kid'." Fran replied shortly, "Explain this 'Lifestream' to us. It sounds important to you."

"Explain the Lifestream?" Zack regarded her with an eyebrow clearly raised. It sounded as if the young warrior was actually surprised that they did not know what exactly the 'Lifestream' was. "You're serious?"

Fran stared at him expectantly, "Well?"

Again, Basch watched Zack look around at the entire group in shock. The young man was completely mystified by the concept that, for whatever reason, no one knew of this…'Lifestream', whatever it was.

"Okay…I guess I could explain it." Zack looked up to the ceiling for a moment, giving off a very deep sigh. "Do you know what happens to people when they die?"

That was certainly unexpected. Basch blinked in surprise at Zack, caught off guard by the question. What did he mean by that?

"When people die, they return to the Planet." Zack said, clearly ignoring the strange looks he was receiving from not only Vaan, but Lamont as well. "Deep in the Planet, there's this…stream of spiritual energy, or something like that. Whenever something living dies, its spirit returns to that stream and combines with it. The energy that makes up the Lifestream, mako, condenses sometimes at certain springs and makes a materia orb, filled with the knowledge of things from a long time ago." Zack frowned slightly, "At least, that's the gist of it-"

"Hold up. You're saying the souls of people go into the ground and become part of a huge stream?" Vaan asked skeptically. "What about the Gods, where do they fit in this?"

"…Gods? Well, unless you count the Planet as a deity then…one. She runs the whole show."

Basch stared at Zack blankly. What he had said, if it were true, simply denounced every single religion in Ivalice right there on the spot…but, who could prove what Zack said to be true? Zack was already considered stranger than normal, and had he not had some wits about him, he most certainly would have been branded as insane. This new revelation would ensure the young man a seat within an asylum. "You certainly have some strange concepts at Gaia." Basch finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had followed Zack's statement. "A stream made out of spiritual energy?"

"Yeah…I wish I had some materia to show you. It's really something to look at since it came from the Lifestream in the first place… Maybe we'll find some later." Zack sighed, heading into the mining area where the stones and walls lay bare to be dug at. Instead of following, Basch looked to Balthier to see any sort of expression on the wily sky pirate's face. He saw nothing but a highly pensive expression.

"A stream of life underneath the soil…" Balthier said lowly. "Hm…"

"He's wrong." Vaan said blatantly, grabbing his weapon as he stood from his resting position. "The Gods decide where people go when they die. They don't just vanish and go to some stream in the ground that the 'Planet' rules."

"Are you sure?" Balthier quipped, "How is anyone sure of what comes after life, if no one who experiences death can tell their tales to those who still live?" With that, Balthier strode into the mine after Zack. Lamont followed silently, with an odd expression on his face. Soon, the only ones left in the room were both Fran and Basch himself. The Viera also appeared to be as pensive as Balthier was.

Fran looked to Basch, an odd gleam in her eyes. "Do you remember…the orb you had in the Barheim Passage?"

"The orb…?" Realization struck Basch. He had almost forgotten of the orb that had entranced him back in the dim depths of the murky passage. "Of course…Do you think-"

"Materia." Fran said. She regarded him curiously, with her head tilted slightly to the left. "Do you still have it?"

Basch reached into his item pouch, but found nothing except Potions and a few tufts of Phoenix Down. At first he was surprised, but the surprise melted away into a cold realization. He didn't have the orb. He hadn't possessed it since the Mimic Queen battle back within the Barheim Passage. "…No. I must have dropped it in the Passage, when the ceiling came crumbling down."

"A shame, that." Fran said airily, striding into the mine as if she were walking upon a cloud. Basch followed after her, glancing around the mined area every so often. His mind, however, still chastised him for losing the 'materia' orb they had found earlier. If he just didn't drop it, perhaps Zack could have shown how it was to be properly used. It was an unfortunate loss, he had to admit.

But if it truly was a materia orb, did it validate what Zack had said earlier? Was the Lifestream something that actually existed in underneath the land of Ivalice? Were the notions of Gods and deities only mythology, and in their wake the only true goddess was this 'Planet'?

Basch frowned, for now it was starting to gnaw at his thoughts-

"What's that?"

Vaan's voice broke through Basch's thoughts, redirecting his attention to the young lads. Lamont knelt next to a wall of unmined magicite, and held a peculiar stone in his hand. It was a deep sapphire color, yet the inside of the palm-sized stone shined a distinct green light. If anything, Basch could have sworn it was similar to a materia orb…but instead of being spherical, the stone was more like that of a properly cut diamond set in an egg shape of sorts.

"It is nethicite, manufactured by the researchers of the Draklor Laboratories." Lamont said, moving the stone in his gloved hand slowly to examine it. The glow from within the stone shined a consistent green onto Lamont's face, giving off an odd tinted color. The youth stared at the stone for quite a long while, but the stone appeared to do nothing except glow faintly.

"…It isn't doing anything." Zack said with a hint of bluntness in his voice. The warrior was observing the stone, but was clearly unimpressed by the lack of action the stone did.

Lamont glanced at Zack, "That is because, unlike magicite, nethicite absorbs magickal energies." With a soft sigh, Lamont stood and gazed at the massive wall. "So this is where they are getting all of the magicite…" He said quietly, almost as though he were speaking his thoughts aloud.

"Errand all attended to, then?" Balthier asked as he approached Lamont. Basch detected an odd tone in the sky pirate's voice he hadn't heard before, and indeed, Balthier's demeanor did appear to not be as relaxed as usual. In fact, he was walking at an unusually brisk pace…

Lamont did not notice the change, for his attention still was focused on the wall of magicite. "Thank you, I'll repay you shortly-"

"No, I think you'll repay us _now_." Balthier replied, all geniality gone from his voice. "So, where did you hear this fairy tale of nethicite? And where did you get that sample you're carrying?" He still approached Lamont, but the young man took many steps back from Balthier as he kept advancing. Suspicion tainted the sky pirate's voice, as he backed Lamont into a corner of the magicite wall. "What do you know about the Draklor Laboratories?"

"What's with the third degree? He's just a kid!" Zack exclaimed, taking a step towards both Balthier and Lamont.

"Hm?" Balthier glanced back at Zack. "You should not judge anyone by appearance, Zack. Even children are capable of treachery…" The sky pirate trailed off, his eyes looking over their heads. "Well, this keeps getting better." He muttered sarcastically. For a moment, Basch thought the sentiment was incredibly odd, but it made sense as soon as he turned to gaze at the entrance to the mine.

Quite a few Bangaa were just emerging from the entrance, their weapons already being pulled out from wherever they were kept. "You kept us waiting, Balthier! We missed you at Nalbina!" The head Bangaa strode in front of the other three, brandishing an unpleasant looking weapon that had some sort of saw attached to a staff. The other three Bangaa started to fan out, all of them advancing towards the group menacingly with their spears' tips gleaming in the light of the mine.

The head Bangaa hissed, sounding quite agitated. "First the Judge and now this boy." An evil chuckle came from the Bangaa, which Basch did not like at all. Already, these Bangaa were not sitting well with him and as a precaution, Basch kept a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"This whole affair smells of money…I might have to wet my beak a little…" Another rotten chuckle came from the Bangaa, followed by other vile laughter from the Bangaa's associates. The four Bangaa now held a half-circle around their group with their weapons at the ready. Vaan took a cautionary step back, while Fran tensed. Zack, on the other hand, pulled his sword from its sheath and held the massive blade in either a defensive position, or a meditative one. Basch wasn't so sure which one it was…

The three Bangaa that stood near the head Bangaa eyed the sword in clear derision, their weapons lowering at the sight of such a massive blade. However, a quick snarl from the head Bangaa corrected the slight loss of composure, making the three straighten up and point their weapons out with much more flourish. The head Bangaa then snarled at Zack, "What do you think you'll be using that for? You stay out of this boy; I came for the sky pirate!"

"And yet you imply kidnapping and ransom, Ba'Gamnan?" Balthier asked with a sneering undertone, not phased in the slightest from the clearly aggressive behavior. "I suspected that only you would stoop to such levels that only swine can match-"

"Ba'Gamnan?" Vaan glanced at Balthier in shock, and then rounded towards the Bangaa with his magickal rod at the ready. "What'd you do with Penelo?!" He demanded as he eyed the area for a trace of the girl. Instead of being rewarded by the sight of her, Ba'Gamnan gave another sadistic chuckle.

"We didn't need her anymore. We cut her loose in the mines! Off she ran crying like a babe…but I wouldn't worry about her if I were you." Ba'Gamnan took another intimidating step forward, his saw-staff buzzing loudly in the cavernous mine as he headed-

SLICE!

It was too fast to comprehend. Basch could only stare in shock.

Zack stood directly in front of Ba'Gamnan, his sword thrusted out to the side. With a soft groan, Ba'Gamnan's intimidating weapon fell to pieces in the Bangaa's claws, rendered completely into scrap metal. The other three accompanying Bangaa gasped, one of them even dropping their spear at what they just witnessed. Ba'Gamnan merely blinked at the young warrior that stood before him.

Gone were the traces of friendliness Zack usually possessed. Instead was a straight face of concentration and stern warning. "How about you turn your sorry lizard hides around and leave the mines." It wasn't a suggestion. "Or do I have to show you _why_ you should leave?"

"You think too highly of your abilities, _boy_." Ba'Gamnan hissed, his nostrils flaring with anger. Even the other three Bangaa gave enraged hisses, all glaring at Zack with pure loathing, replacing the fear that was present moments ago.

Balthier shook his head in exasperation. "Bad choice of words, Zack."

For a moment, Basch wondered why Balthier had said what he said, but the answer came to him quickly enough. During the war, he had discovered (in a very unpleasant way) that Bangaa did not enjoy being called 'lizards'. As a matter of fact, it was a great insult to them and they often reacted quite violently towards anyone who addressed them as such. Apparently, these Bangaa were no exception.

"What?" For a moment, Zack looked back to Balthier. At the same moment, the three armed Bangaa all made a run at him with their weapons all jutting out towards him.

"Zack, watch out-!"

Without warning, Zack jumped away from the three Bangaa, landing several feet away from all three of them. He smirked at their astonished expressions, waving a finger as though her were scolding a child. "Now that was just sad."

To retort, the Bangaa all let out enraged roars and charged at him, completely forgetting their quarry in the chaos. However, before they could even reach Zack, he would spring away from them with amazing jumps that covered great distances, always wearing a mocking grin as they, again and again, tried to catch him.

Basch watched the whole affair, wondering if he should have been amused or astonished by Zack's display. Briefly, Basch glanced at his traveling companions to see most of them watched in surprise, with the exclusion being Balthier. He was the only one amused by the whole situation, apparently.

"Over here!" Zack whistled, now standing right in front of the exit of the mined tunnel. The three Bangaa charged with less enthusiasm, all fatigued from running back and forth to catch Zack. They slowly made their way across the huge space, no longer running anymore.

Ba'Gamnan snarled at his associates fiercely, clearly unhappy by the way things were progressing. "Catch him!"

"Catch him yourself!" The female Bangaa snapped irritably, stopping to catch her breath. "Huff-huff…"

Seeing her rest, the other two male Bangaa also stopped to catch a second wind. With their weapons limp in their clawed hands, one lightning quick swipe from Zack's massive sword sent each respective weapon fly right into a magicite wall. The weapons, upon impact, dug into the magicite walls like how a needle would dig into a pincushion.

One of the male Bangaa gulped, now looking at a very large sword pointed directly at him.

"I disarmed you all without touching one scale." Zack said, his arm steadily holding the blade without shaking under its weight once, which was a feat within itself. "I'm going to repeat myself; turn tail and leave. Now."

Yet again, Ba'Gamnan growled. "We'll take no orders from you." The Bangaa's eyes were narrowed, his voice dripping with anger.

"Oh…I think you will." Zack replied casually. "Since your friends seem to think so too."

"What?!" Ba'Gamnan turned his head quickly, and sure enough, his associates had turned tail and raced away without looking back once. The lead Headhunter growled fiercely and stood there, throwing a glare first at Zack, then back at Balthier. The Bangaa's mood appeared to darken exponentially at the smug expression on the sky pirate's face.

Ba'Gamnan's jowls pulled back, revealing a row of sharp teeth as a feral growl tore through his throat. "Balthier!" The Bangaa charged at him, claws and teeth bared to tear the sky pirate limb from limb. Basch unsheathed his sword-a second too late.

**WHAM!**

Ba'Gamnan crashed into the wall next to where Balthier and Lamont stood and fell back onto the ground, his eyes rolling from the impact. A soft groan came from the headhunter's scaly lips and with a defeated groan, Ba'Gamnan fainted on the spot.

Lamont slowly approached the evil Bangaa, eyeing the damage the creature had taken. Through the emerald scales on the Bangaa's back, a darkly colored bruise appeared to already blossom. No cuts were visible, suggesting that Zack had merely pounded the Bangaa with the flat of his blade. "Amazing…"

"I'll say." Balthier said, also eyeing Ba'Gamnan's limp form. "Not many people can boast that strength…"

"Strength that is unnatural." Fran added, setting Zack with a strange gaze yet again. She slowly approached him, her eyes seemingly studying him as though he were an open book. "Such strength belies experience, yet your experience is lost upon all of us."

Zack sheathed the sword behind his back and then frowned at the Viera. "What's that supposed to mean? Didn't you notice my level when we were mowing down those skeletons or monsters in the mines?"

Fran shook her head once. "You were not very active in participating."

"That's right; we did all of the work while you kept talking about how creepy skeletons are." Vaan piped up, frowning at Zack as well. "The only reason you got hurt was because you tripped over all of those bones left over from the fight."

"I didn't trip; one of the skeleton hands purposefully grabbed my ankle!" Zack replied indignantly. "And I thought you all needed the experience, since you almost all died after getting attacked by an overgrown bug."

While everyone, including Basch, gave Zack a stern glare, Lamont visibly looked confused. "Overgrown bug?"

"He's exaggerating." Vaan said in retort, glancing at the youth briefly. "The Mimic Queen wasn't _that_ big-"

"Of course not. And, hey, if that's true then I'm a Tonberry." Zack rolled his eyes and shook his head, but stopped upon the blank looks he was receiving yet again. "…No Tonberries in Ivalice, huh?"

"No." Lamont responded, shaking his head slightly. He took a step towards the warrior, gazing at Zack with a certainly mystified expression.

"…You are quite the enigma, Zack Fair." Lamont said after a long while.

"Well, look who's talking." Zack replied.

A loud growl came from a locked gate nearby, prompting everyone to look towards the source of the sound. A nasty beast stood at the other side of the gate, its hulking and muscular form quite prominent in the dim light the Lhusu Mines provided. Although it could not get past the wrought-iron gate, a thought entered Basch's head after the long span of simply watching the events that unfolded earlier. "It is not safe here."

"I agree. Who knows what other beast might jump from the shadows…?" Balthier added, frowning as the creature behind the gate tried to smash it down with its shoulder. The sky pirate then turned his sights upon Lamont, "As for you, when we get out of here you _will_ be answering a few questions of ours. Understand?"

Lamont gazed at Balthier first in surprise, but then sighed in defeat. A notable frown appeared on Zack's face, but this time he did not protest towards Balthier, instead opting to leave Site Two, with Vaan and Fran. Basch left shortly afterwards with Lamont right behind him, and Balthier taking up the rear.

As they left, Ba'Gamnan finally stirred.

--- --- --- --- --- ---- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Bwagi had never been as scared out of his mind as he was a few minutes ago. Although the boy that challenged them did appear to be nothing but a pushover, the young man was not a stranger to fighting at all. In fact, the strange warrior was so quick and powerful it was a wonder that he did not simply kill the boss and his associates in the site right then and there. Whoever the boy was, he wasn't one to be trifled with.

Gijuk, one of Bwagi's associates, let out a long breath, his chest heaving after the run they had made from Site Two all the way to Transitway One. "The boss was over his head; that boy is too powerful…"

A snort came from Rinok, Bwagi's other associate, "He didn't look it, that's for sure." She punched the old wall of the Transitway and snarled; her mood rapidly changing as it was prone to do. "How I wouldn't give my own claws to put that obstinate boy in his place!"

Gijuk nodded, showing his sharp teeth. "Calling us something so foul…it shouldn't go unpunished!"

Bwagi could sense the tension beginning to mount, and felt he was the only one with his head still on correctly. "We lack weapons." He said, trying to rationalize to his associates. "How can we put someone so strong and fast in their place if we have nothing to back it up?"

They both threw glares in retaliation, sharp snarls escaping from their throats. However, they soon quieted down upon the hard truth that without Ba'Gamnan and their weapons, they were powerless and outnumbered.

"Do you think they killed the boss?" Gijuk asked after a moment of silence, his tail swishing as he paced in a circle. "We left him back there, and with the sky pirate leading that lot, he could've killed him."

Admittedly, Balthier was known for taking advantage of situations. With that odd warrior under his employ, no doubt the sky pirate could have ordered the execution of their boss. Bwagi frowned at the thought, but rationalized it again. That would only add to his bounty, and increase the headhunter attention than the sky pirate would like by killing a headhunter that hunted him so avidly. Added, it wasn't Balthier's style to execute a headhunter…

"If only we could do something to kill the lot." Rinok growled. Her sharp eyes focused on a closed gate leading into a deeper part of the Lhusu Mine, and her eyes twinkled. "I have an idea."

Bwagi didn't like the look of her idea. The female Bangaa had hurried over to the reasonably closed gate and searched for a device on the wall that could raise or lower it. On the other end was nothing but pure darkness, but faint sounds echoed eerily into the well lit Transitway.

"All of the monsters in the deeper part of the mines should be strong enough to kill them all, if I could just…" Rinok fumbled at the controls of the gate, and growled when it did not work like she intended it to. "Curse this damn circuitry!"

"Let me help." Gijuk growled, walking over to the controls to have a go. Rinok took a step away, allowing him to fiddle with the controls.

Before Bwagi could put in his opinion, the old gate creaked and lifted up slowly. It stopped upon lifting up a few inches, causing Gijuk to spit some very disgusting words. As it seemed to Bwagi, Gijuk was intending on opening the gate fully to let forth what creatures lurked within the deep recesses of the Lhusu Mines-

"_Sssssssss…_"

Bwagi heard it before he smelt it. A faint hiss came from the dark interior of the other tunnel, followed by the smell of something that spent too much time either bleeding from wounds, or gorging on blood. Bwagi was leaning towards the latter. In the dim interior, he could faintly see the shape of something extremely large shift.

"We need to leave. Now!" Bwagi shouted. He saw the creature coming closer and backed away from the gate. "Rinok, Gijuk, hurry!"

"What is it?!" Gijuk hissed, but stopped and gasped, his eyes fixated on something that was just past the wrought iron gate. He turned and ran for the exit of the Transitway as fast as he could run, breezing past Bwagi in his mad sprint. "Run!"

A flash of blue darted underneath the small crack of the gate, into the Transitway beyond. A mighty hiss came from its flat head and it reared up, its thin body swaying left and right in a hypnotic fashion. The serpent's beady eyes set upon Rinok and with a feral hiss it lunged at her with its teeth flashing.

"Not today!" Rinok snarled, rolling away from the strike at the last moment. She pulled herself onto her scaly feet and ran right at Bwagi, grabbing his arm as she darted past, "Run you idiot!"

"_SSSSSS!_" The snake hissed again and slithered towards him, its sapphire body gleaming in the dim light. With a shaky yell, Bwagi turned and ran as fast as he could, never stopping to look back and see if the gigantic snake was following him or not. Rinok kept stride with him, and they ran and ran until they finally reached the mine's exit.

"What…-what the hell was that?!" Bwagi snapped, falling to his knees to try and regain his breath. A few feet ahead of him was Gijuk, who had collapsed from exhaustion from the run he made as well.

A wheeze came from Rinok. "Libra…it told me it was called a 'Nidhogg'." She showed the bangle upon her right wrist, and wheezed yet again. "Had Protect…Shell…and Bravery."

A low, but weak, chuckle came from Gijuk, "It should kill them then. That bloody snake is something fierce."

Bwagi wasn't so sure about that sentiment, but then again, with a serpent like the Nidhogg patrolling the Transitway; there was a chance the group at the other end of the Lhusu Mines wouldn't make it out. After all, it was told that beyond the shut gates of the Lhusu Mines lurked creatures beyond understanding. If the Nidhogg came from those depths, it would surely have been as powerful as anything else that made home in the mines.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Zack was confused.

Ever since arriving in Ivalice, Zack was never really sure what was going on. Even before he arrived there, he could barely recall anything about his home other than places and occupations. He remembered his hometown, but not his parents. He remembered where he worked, but not his commanding officers. He recalled a 'Shinra Corporation' but could not, for the life of him, remember exactly who ran the company.

It was like all the people he was supposed to know had up and vanished in his mind, leaving behind remnants of memory in the wake. Whatever had caused that was beyond Zack, but he had a feeling something must have happened to him when he was returning to Midgar after…something. Speaking of which, what exactly was he doing before he went to back to Midgar?

…Nibelheim.

Something about Nibelheim. Something _really_ big happened there, which made him need to return back to Midgar. He was on a mission there and he remembered that he was checking the reactor in the mountains behind the small backwater town.

Zack recalled that there was a whole lot of fire…did the reactor explode? Was that why he was heading back to Midgar? But that didn't make any sense; if he was heading back to Midgar to report on an exploded reactor, why did he travel through the Midgar wastes in the back of a pickup truck? …Who was driving that truck, anyway?

With a frown, Zack sliced a Slaven in front of him with minimal difficulty, watching as the beast groaned and fell over in a massive slump. He hadn't really been paying attention to his surrounding since entering the mines, and didn't find a need to since everything there was abysmally under level for him. An antidote bottle rolled from the dead carcass, the vial softly coming to a stop in front of him. Stooping down, Zack picked up the vial and pocketed it.

That was another thing; all of his items had simply vanished when he had arrived in Ivalice…whenever that was. All of his Phoenix Downs, Remedies, Materia, and X-Potions he remembered owning before showing up in Ivalice had all but vanished. Every special armor and accessory he owned was completely gone as well. The only things he _now_ owned were the Buster Sword, and whatever he had picked off of dead monsters in the Lhusu Mines.

And to top all of Zack's problems off, his Digital Mind Wave, or DMW, was malfunctioning.

So far, Zack's overall enthusiasm for Ivalice was fading very quickly. He wanted to find out what was going on with him, why he was in Ivalice, and how he could return back to Gaia and sort everything out. But, judging by everyone's lack of knowledge on almost…well…everything, Zack was pretty sure he was going to be stuck in Ivalice for a long time.

That, in itself, was not a very happy thought.

After killing a Steeling, Zack walked over the tiny bat-like body and followed the train tracks towards the exit of the mines, with the others lagging behind him. They had been keeping a cautious distance from him recently, probably because of the action he showed back with the talking lizards in Site Two. Although Zack didn't mind being shut out for a little while, it started to bug him when the unrelenting silence dragged on and on.

"_Ssssss_…"

Zack stopped in his tracks, already on the alert. He had heard a very faint sound come from somewhere up ahead that was not like a normal sound he heard in the mines. His grip on the Buster Sword doubled; whatever the thing that made the noise was didn't sound good.

"Zack?"

"Shh!" Zack motioned for the group behind him to stop, still listening for the sound. The hissing quietly died away, leaving absolute silence. He heard a soft scraping sound coming from the ground ahead, but Zack figured the noise would be too soft to alert everyone else. Taking a cautious step forward, Zack gazed at the dim track ahead of him for any sign of movement.

"_SSSS!_" A flash of teeth appeared in front of Zack sooner than expected, the teeth clashing against the Buster Sword in a loud 'CLANG!' The creature hissed at him violently and gripped the sword, visibly trying to yank it out of his hold. The creature was easily larger than most of the beasts that traveled the Lhusu Mines, but it was also thin as a board and serpentine in appearance so, more than likely, it was a some sort of disfigured snake. Zack tore the Buster Sword out of the 'snake's' mouth and went to slash at it, only to hit air.

The snake was _really_ thin and flexible, Zack had to admit. Every time he tried to hit it, the thing would move out of the way or curl into outrageous poses to avoid being cut in half. It swayed upon the base of its coils, the tail behind it shaking violently-

BAM!

The tail of the snake jutted out like a spear, slamming Zack back and away from it. He stood there, dazed for a moment and winded from the attack. "What the?" That snake was on a different level than the other creatures in the mines…

"Slow!" Vaan's voice came from behind him, followed by an orange magic that flew at the snake and hover around it slowly. The magic dissipated quickly, indicating that it had not worked on the creature.

The snake turned its beady eyes on the group behind Zack and hissed loudly. Before Zack could try and stop it, the snake quickly and sinuously slithered right for them, probably because it sensed easier prey. Its tail swung and struck Vaan with a powerful blow, knocking the young man into the wall.

Zack saw the attack and charged the serpent, swinging his sword right down on the tail of it. Because its attention was to attacking the others, it didn't dodge the swift counterattack.

SLICE!

"_SSSSSSSSKKKSSS!_" The snake roared out a hideous sound and flailed wildly, its tail severed from the rest of its body. In its pain and rage, it snarled and spun on the spot, whipping up vicious wave currents in the air that sliced like a sharp sword. Zack winced and felt a stinging sensation on his arm from the attack, but wasted no time in trying to cut the snake up again.

In turn, the snake now had its full focus on Zack and hissed violently at him, dodging every attack he made. This was starting to frustrate Zack; he knew he could kill it with one direct hit, but the thing was too thin and flexible to hit directly in the first place. Its head shot down at him, fangs bared to gnaw, but was met with the Buster Sword again before it could land the attack.

Behind it, Zack could see that Basch, Balthier, and Fran all working on trying to kill the snake as well. For being mostly under level for the snake, the trios were clipping it with arrows and sword slashes that actually hit it instead of missing by a mile. The only two who weren't participating in trying to kill the stupid thing were Lamont and Vaan. Zack figured Lamont was attending to Vaan since the young man had been attacked by a strong hit and had, more than likely, been knocked out by the snake's attack.

A bang echoed through the cavernous passage and the snake let out another squeal of pain. A small part of the midsection of the snake appeared to have been clipped by a bullet, and seemed to have taken a good bit of stamina off of the already tiring serpent. With a weaker snarl, the snake lashed down at him again, its attack entirely missing him altogether.

That was just too easy.

Swinging his Buster Sword in a mighty arc, Zack swung it down powerfully at the snake, delivering a massive gash down its thin scaled back.

A wail erupted from the snake's mouth, its body straightening up to touch the roof of the mine. Zack tensed for any final attack, but the snake only writhed in the air and fell to the ground in a heap of sapphire coils, growing both silent and unmoving.

There was a palpable silence for a brief moment.

"That was unpleasant." Balthier finally said as he checked his gun. That statement broke the silence, allowing everyone to regain their bearings after the sudden attack.

With a sigh, Zack placed the Buster Sword back in the sheath behind his back and looked over the dead snake. Nothing came off of it except for a piece of its bright skin, which looked very shiny. Zack guessed the bit of skin could have been worth something to some sort of voodoo alchemist in the streets outside, so he pocketed the small treasure for later.

"That was some impressive fighting." A gruff voice said from behind, startling Zack for a second. He turned away from the snake to see Basch standing a few feet away, with the usual 'stern' expression he wore. Not really knowing what to say, Zack only shrugged. After all, the snake wasn't that strong, but it was more of a pain to hit than anything else.

Taking the shrug as an answer, Basch turned away from him to speak with Fran. Briefly, Zack looked to where Vaan had collapsed and saw the young man was beginning to come around.

…Wait.

"One, two, three, four…" Zack counted the group, looking at those who were present. Vaan was just coming around; Balthier was loading his gun with shot for later, Fran and Basch were talking; who was missing? "Uh…where's the kid?"

"Hm?" Balthier glanced at Zack, "Why are you asking? He's…" Balthier looked over his shoulder, towards an empty stretch of tracks. "…Not here, apparently."

"What?" Basch asked, glancing towards Balthier in surprise. "Who was watching the lad?"

"I would suspect nobody." Balthier replied coolly, "No doubt the boy ran while we were preoccupied with other matters." He gestured to the massive coils of the dead snake.

Zack frowned. He didn't remember seeing Lamont take a dash past him or the snake during the fight, but then again, he was more worried about the huge teeth in the snake's mouth than what Lamont was doing at the moment. By now, if Lamont was still running, he would already be somewhere close to the entrance of the mines. For them, that was still a bridge-length away, added with another stretch of monster-filled mine. Zack figured the kid would be long gone by the time they left.

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**Sahxyel:** Whoa, this is actually longer than my other two chapters in file size. I was hoping I could fit in my favorite part of the entire game (I'm Captain Basch!!) in this chapter, but with the impromptu Nidhogg Boss Battle, I decided it would be left off until next chapter.

**Random Moogle:** Kupo! This story is finally showing some differences from the game!

**Me:** Yeah, I figured parroting the entire FFXII scenes would be lame after a while (and somewhat negative reviews regarding it made me act), so Zack will be the one to change things up. Now, on to Replies! I must note to everyone that I will not reply to a one line praise review, but I will thank them because they still reviewed! Thank you to Yuleen75, mf, Drake G. Reaper, and Nitroglycerin!

Replies to Reviews:

**Wonderfoal:** Thank you, I hope he got more interesting. His POV should be somewhat interesting…I hope. O,o

**fire spirit:** Yup, this chapter is the first to feature three different POVs of Basch, Random NPC (Bwagi), and Zack. As for Fran, her reasons for not being partial to Zack DOES have to do with the Mist…but won't be expounded on until Eruyt Village. Which is a long time away. Blah.

**Honor:** Funnily enough, this crossover is updated more than my nearly-finished one (and chapters are longer too, sad). Hey, and I agree with the Star Wars thing. Strahl is totally Millennium Falcon, and Balthier is so a Han Solo. Lol. Materia is mentioned in this chapter, but unfortunately there is none to be found…yet!

**SharperImage:** Yeah, I realized my error in that. I always figured, though, that they didn't have all the seating for more than four people in the cockpit and…yeah, stupid thing, I know. As for dialogue, I'm trying to brush up but it is _really_ hard with Basch. He's like a stick in the mud. I have much more fun with other people's narratives, to be honest. As for the 'flash', you might be not _in_correct in that assumption. Bwahaha…

**TrigunCrazed:** I have too much fun to let this die, added that I love both FFVII and FFXII and have both mediums easily accessible to me. (I'm chocobo racing after this!) And I'm surprised one of my readers cared about Marcus Lentil. He wrote more reports, so his 'influence' will still be seen. (Especially in the Paramina Rift chapters later on). As for adventures, they'll be the most adventure-y adventures you can imagine. …ADVENTURE!

**Katreal**: Thus, the lame memory thing! Zack remembers things, just not a lot of the important stuff…or people, definitely people. I know, lame, but I needed him to not be all 'Why am I still alllivve?! Oh my god, where's Cloud and blah-blah-blah' yet. That'll come later. Heh. As for all long lived FFVII characters…uh…Okay, I'll say this. Vincent is in this fic (his appearance has to something to do with an _Esper_) and other characters will be seen. …Yes, including Sephiroth. Will he be crazy or not? Remains to be seen.

**Katalith:** Aww, but I like the game mechanics…I'm notorious for using them, unfortunately. I try adding a tip of realism in fights (notice that it isn't turn based and Zack actually cut the Nidhogg's tail off) but things like Hi-Potions, Clan Primers, and how magic (magick for FFXII dialect) works I don't like leaving out. Sorry, it's a force of habit.

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**Random Moogle:** With those notes being said, Sahxyel wishes everyone a good read, and hopes that if they enjoyed it or want to offer constructive criticism to review! Kupo!


	4. Chapter IV

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter IV**

The sun outside of the Lhusu Mines was absolutely blinding in Basch's opinion. After hours of navigating through musty and dim passageways, the brightness of the sun outdoors burned with fierce intensity he hadn't experienced since the Barheim Passage. At any rate, Basch was certainly glad the escapades within the mines drew to a close, for now he could focus on trying to contact the Resistance in Bhujerba. Through them, perhaps he could arrange a meeting with the Marquis regarding a certain Amalia…

Ahead of Basch, Balthier and Fran slowly examined the area for any sign of the runaway that got away from them in the Mines. Basch knew this to be a fool's errand; if Lamont was intent on keeping his secrets, he would have already disappeared into the city to probably never be heard from again. Whatever the case, it did not bother Basch at all. He was not concerned with whatever business Lamont had with magicite and 'nethicite' even if Balthier certainly seemed to be. For whatever reason the sky pirate wanted to know, or even knew in the first place, about such things was beyond Basch in the first place, but he suspected the sky pirate had his own agenda about him.

As for Zack and Vaan, the two already were heading up the stairs to speak with the miners who lounged around. Zack was more than likely going to sell the loot he acquired in the Lhusu Mines while Vaan was probably asking the miners about his friend Penelo, since as Ba'Gamnan said earlier; he had cut her loose within Lhusu. If that was the case, they would have found her, but her absence in the mines suggested that she had made it out by herself. Logically, the miners would have seen her exit the mines, and would point the lad in the right direction. Basch could only wish the best of luck to Vaan regarding her, but he figured his time traveling with his odd companions would end quite soon-

"What?!" Vaan's yelp was loud enough for even the deafest of Seeq to hear. "What do you mean?!"

Basch climbed the stairs to Miner's End quickly to see what the commotion was about. Vaan stood in front of a group of lounging miners, a look of complete bewilderment upon his face. One of the miners, a Moogle with a fluffy orange pom-pom, laughed at the facial expression good-naturedly. "Kupo! That's right! The lass left with the Marquis and his procession earlier!" The Moogle then rubbed its tiny nose, "I suspect that if that young boy with them didn't vouch for her, she'd be heading for prison right about now…"

"Young boy?" Basch muttered under his breath, frowning very slightly. Were they speaking of Lamont? How could he stand court with the company the Marquis kept?

"The Marquis…?" Vaan's face fell at first, but then the disappointment was replaced with confusion. "Wait a minute, did you say 'young boy'?"

The Moogle nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!"

"I reckon he's that son of ol' Solidor." A hefty man nearby piped up, his rough voice grating on Basch's ear. "No way a Judge would treat a boy with such respect otherwise…"

"That old goat has two sons, you loon." A Seeq snorted, scratching his belly as he did so. "There's Vayne and then there's…blast. I forgot the younger one's name."

Vaan's jaw dropped in surprise, and the situation would have made it appear comical had Basch not also been completely surprised as well. That Lamont was actually the _son_ of Emperor Gramis Solidor, the ruler of Arcades?

The Seeq grumbled loudly, "Can't remember; now this is going to bug me…"

"The younger son of Solidor is known as 'Larsa', my good Seeq." Balthier's casual voice came as he strolled up the stairs with Fran sticking close by as always. For some incredibly odd reason, the sky pirate was not surprised in the slightest. "Who would have guessed, eh Fran?"

"You did." Fran replied, gazing at him with a very mild look.

Basch raised an eyebrow slightly, his voice a little hoarser than normal. "You knew of his identity, Balthier?"

"Well, the seal of the emperor was on his person, for one." Balthier replied as he led them away from the group of curious miners. "Added, his mannerisms were closer to that of nobility than anything else." They now stood in the middle of the plaza for Miner's End, away from prying ears. "Unfortunately for you, Vaan, it seems young Larsa swept your dear friend along with him to the Marquis' palace."

Vaan frowned very noticeably, a sour look upon his face. "A Solidor…"

"He will mean her no harm." Fran said to the thief, an air of complete assurance in her voice. "I know he does not."

"How are you sure?" Vaan asked sulkily, his mood already altered by the current situation. This, yet again, brought a thought to Basch he hadn't considered since entry to the Lhusu Mines a few hours prior. Zack had mentioned that perhaps Penelo was closer to Vaan than he let on…with the show of obvious resentment Vaan displayed; Basch figured Zack was probably right with the assumption.

"I know Men." The Viera said, "You need not worry, if she is only a 'friend'."

To Basch's amusement, the thief turned a rather unbecoming shade of pink.

"Hey, am I missing something?" Zack came strolling up to them, tucking away a fair amount of Gil into his own item pocket. A good-natured grin appeared on his face, suggesting he was in a much better mood after exiting the mines. Basch found this change to be relieving, as he did not figure Zack was fit to always be in such a mood as he was earlier. Hopefully, the warrior wouldn't have a relapse anytime soon.

"Not really." Vaan said, his face draining of the embarrassing pink. "We found out where Penelo is."

"Oh? So where _is_ your girlfriend?" Zack asked, with a teasing tone entering his voice. As quickly as Vaan's face drained of the color, the pink immediately returned.

"She's just a friend!"

"…Really? Your face tells me something _else_, Vaan."

"Rrgh…"

"Enough, you two." Basch said, trying to hide a chuckle as best as he could. "We've important matters to attend to."

"Yes, we have. The first matter being that we need the Marquis' attention to even hope of gaining entry to his estate." Balthier quipped, crossing his arms briefly as a thoughtful expression appeared. "He's filtering money towards resistance groups here in Bhujerba. That would be the best way to get to him."

"How are we to even gain such attention of these groups?" Basch asked, frowning slightly. Yet again, it seemed as if the others were inadvertently following him in his quest to return back to…well…that wasn't important. What _was_ important was that Basch knew the groups would be incredibly secretive, especially with the Empire taking residence in Bhujerba at the moment.

"Resistance members will be prowling the streets, if we were to gain their attention, we might just get lucky…" Balthier said, "But we would need something quite alarming to gain notoriety in the first place."

Basch thought for a moment. What could attract more attention to them, without landing them within another prison? He was certain finding the Resistance in Bhujerba was crucial, but the task of locating them would be quite daunting in a city of such size. Added, what could be said to alarm the Resistance into action?

"Why don't we just go around claiming that Basch is really alive?"

Basch looked to Vaan, at first surprised at what he suggested, then somewhat curious at the notion. "What do you mean?"

"Uhh…" Vaan looked down awkwardly, "If the Marquis announced your execution, wouldn't it be kind of odd if you just showed up? That would make Ondore look like a liar, right?"

"Ahh…I think you're on to something, Vaan." Balthier said, glancing at the thief briefly. "However, if the infamous Captain traipsed around announcing that himself, we might not be invited along with him to the Resistance's hiding place…"

Vaan's determination didn't dwindle, "So have someone else go around. If he gets caught and taken, then he can just say the he isn't the real Basch, but he's somewhere nearby."

That, probably, was either the most intelligent thing Basch had heard Vaan utter, or perhaps the most insane. The plot was almost too crazy to work, but…it seemed like it could be done. Now was just finding the right person to travel around Bhujerba announcing his continued existence…? The question only hovered in his mind briefly, before he made up his mind.

"A fine idea Vaan." Basch nodded, causing the thief to puff his chest out with pride. Basch then turned his head to look to Zack, "May I ask a favor of you?"

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"I'm Captain Basch Von Ronsenburg of Dalmasca!"

Heads whipped up in surprise, glancing to the source of the yell with clear confusion. The announcement was assuredly loud, the call echoing down the narrow streets of Bhujerba. The voice rang with authority and power, one that could only denote such a man still lived. In quieted murmurs, the throngs of city travelers discussed amongst themselves, stealing glances at the man who declared something so profound.

Zack, meanwhile, grinned and glanced to a sullen Vaan. "We're going to find those Resistance people in no time."

Vaan grumbled under his breath, scowling so noticeably that Zack was certain even a blind man could see it. Zack knew that Vaan was sore that Basch didn't pick _him_ to go around shouting like an idiot, but Basch _did_ say that he needed someone who looked like he could be a captain, and with all of his stuff, Zack figured Basch pegged him to be the right man for the job. He didn't seem to be wrong with that assumption either.

Now, Zack at first thought he wasn't up for the job. Plus, he wasn't sure if he wanted to keep helping the four out so much for really nothing in return. Already they had taken him to Bhujerba and he had already escorted them through the Lhusu Mines and past both murderous 'Bangaa' and one seriously annoying snake. Helping them find a 'Resistance' in Bhujerba seemed overkill…

But, then again, he didn't _have_ anything better to do. Nobody he asked even knew what 'Gaia', 'Midgar', or even 'Shinra' were! All he got when asking around at Miner's End was a really odd stare, the same stare that he got from Vaan, Basch, Balthier, and Fran whenever he talked about something from Gaia. At least when he did this yelling thing, he was helping them out of a tight situation…plus, although he was never going to admit it, Zack thought the whole 'yelling like an idiot' thing was _fun_.

Speaking of that, it looked like that group over by the _Cloudborne_ needed to hear the good word…

Clearing his throat a little, Zack stepped into the square right in front of the bar, grabbing the attention of all who lazed about outside. "Don't believe Ondore's lies! He's a liar! You know why? Because _I'm_ Captain Basch!"

The group of drunks mulling around the entrance to the bar all glanced at him with bewildered expressions plastered all over their faces. Zack could see that through the drunken stupor they were in, it hadn't fully sunk in yet. One of the drunks looked forlornly into an empty drinking mug and sauntered into the bar with a very awkward gait, nearly slamming his head on the doorway on the way in.

Vaan coughed into his fist, but Zack could see that he was hiding a smirk. "I don't think they heard you."

"What do you expect Vaan? They're drunk out of their minds." Zack replied, not perturbed in the slightest. "Besides, it's not like they're really going to be the Resistance, right?"

Before Vaan could retaliate with something Zack knew wouldn't be very nice, a stern looking man marched out of the _Cloudborne_ with two Bhujerban guides following him. Behind them came a very pleased drunkard with a mug full of an amber liquid…the very same drunkard that stumbled into the bar just a moment ago. The drunkard pointed to them then sat on a step, chugging from his full mug.

The stern man and Bhujerban guides approached them, all looking quite miffed at the moment. "You two will be coming with us." The stern man said, scowling at them for the longest time. Zack sensed something move behind him and looked over his shoulder, seeing other people start to surround both him and Vaan. Most of them did look very angry…and slightly buzzed. If Zack wasn't sure that the majority of the surrounding crowd was drunk, he would have thought they were a bigger threat.

The stern man strode back into the _Cloudborne_ with the Bhujerban guides following him. Zack figured these people meant some sort of business, so walked along behind them. Vaan, however, didn't seem to get the message.

"Ow! Hey! Stop it!"

Again, Zack looked over his shoulder to see that two hefty men were pushing Vaan along, nearly throwing him on the ground several times by the force of the pushes. Sighing, he motioned for Vaan with a quick wave, "Stop fighting them Vaan, and get over here!"

Vaan stumbled once more from a strong shove, and then darted to Zack, keeping close so that the people would stop trying to push him around. Zack chortled under his breath as they were led through the very busy bar and past a _very_ disgruntled Bangaa to a back room. The room was dim compared to the bright and cheery lighting the actual bar had, and most of the room was decorated with colorful rugs and shawls that hid boxes and the stone walls. There were already people there, all seated at the far end of the room, with most of them not looking very happy at the moment.

"Here they are, Havharo. The black haired one claims he's Captain Basch…the other is helping him spread this, no doubt." A man behind them said, as he strode past them to sit at a dusty table nearby.

A very regular looking man sitting at the head of the table gazed at him critically, making Zack a little uneasy. Again he was being studied like a freak show, and not for the first time since he arrived in Ivalice either. Why were people so hung up with how he looked?

"This man cannot pass as a Dalmascan. His appearance is too…foreign." Havharo muttered, standing up and away from the table as he approached them. Zack regarded the man blankly, not really knowing what else to do. Havharo circled him once, probably looking over every aspect. The man spent a long time staring at the Buster Sword though, before stepping away from him quickly.

Slowly, Havharo returned to his seat at the head of the table. "He does look as though he could be a captain…of Arcadian descent! Fools! He's a spy!" Havharo spat, pointing accusingly with a noticeably shaky finger. Zack almost had to laugh; Havharo looked absolutely terrified despite the whole tough guy demeanor he was putting up.

Gasps and panicked murmurs broke out at this, while the man who directed them inside yelped in astonishment. Weapons of all sorts were taken out and brandished at him quickly, as everyone in the room glared with distinct hate in their eyes.

"_Wow, they're touchy here._" Zack thought dully, seeing several swords tremble in the grip of their owners. He cleared his throat, despite the glares he received. "Look, I'm not Captain Basch and I'm not from Arcades. My name's Zack Fair and I'm from…someplace really far away from here." He thought it was better not to mention Midgar or Gaia at all, since the people already seemed angry enough already. "I was looking for you all so that the _real_ Basch could talk-"

"And you expect us to believe such tripe?!" A Bangaa nearby hissed, jabbing a spear in his general direction. "Of course you are no Captain Basch, but your appearance just screams Arcades! As well, the real Basch is long since passed of this world!"

"If you are not of Arcades, then why would you claim to be the dead Captain Basch Ronsenburg of Dalmasca? For what purpose would you spread mud across Marquis Ondore's name?" Havharo demanded, his tone of voice having a noticeable edge to it. "If you've a good explanation that does not involve the Empire, I would like to hear of it."

Vaan gulped as another Bangaa with a sword took a step forward, but Zack didn't answer at first. What was he going to say that would convince them? Obviously they wouldn't be very open to anything he said, and Vaan wasn't helping by cowering like a scared little kid.

"What a shame it would be if the Empire knew the Marquis kept company with the likes of you." A sly voice spoke as the door behind both Zack and Vaan opened. All heads turned to see three new people enter the 'secret' room of the _Cloudborne_, with the speaker the furthest in. "And I must say that this man is speaking the truth, he is not of Arcades. Surely you could tell by the eyes?"

"Who are you?" One of the men in the room demanded, but Balthier only ignored them. Instead, he was looking around with a very unimpressed look.

"A hideout in the back of a tavern? Agents acting as guides right under everyone's noses…Originality is not your strong point, is it?" Balthier asked, looking to Havharo critically.

Havharo frowned at Balthier, while some of the other room occupants started towards him angrily. Zack reached back over his shoulder to grip the hilt of the Buster Sword, having the slight feeling that a fight was going to break out shortly. Zack never liked all the fights he seemed to attract recently, but everyone in Ivalice sure seemed to enjoy fighting over _really_ stupid stuff. Besides, Zack did agree with what Balthier said because frankly it was true-

"Wait!"

Zack looked towards the door and saw Basch emerge from the shadows. He strode past both Balthier and him to stand fully in the dim light the room provided. Havharo stared at the man in astonishment at first, his jaw dropping just by seeing him. Reactions around the room, hilariously enough, were really similar.

"So it was not a lie. Basch still lives…" Havharo finally said after a huge gap of silence. "But…how? The Marquis, he announced your execution to all of Ivalice, for the murder of King Raminas!"

"What?!" Zack was completely floored, first looking at Havharo in shock, then at Basch. "You murdered someone?!"

An exasperated sigh came from Vaan, "Do you ever listen to what we talk about, Zack? He didn't do it! He was set up by his twin brother who worked as a double agent with Arcades. The Empire captured Basch and his brother killed the King…and my brother." Vaan sighed sadly, glancing downward. "That's why he was with us in the Barheim Passage. That passage connects with the Nalbina Dungeons. So, when we broke out, he came with us."

Zack blinked, and for a long time the room was really quiet.

"…Somehow, I get the feeling I was left out of the loop."

"I did not want to burden you with that knowledge, Zack." Basch said, his voice sounding apologetic, although Zack had a hard time trying to see the apology on his face. "I am sorry. Your problems alone vexed you, and I thought…"

Oh. That was right. Zack had almost forgotten the little problem he had…involving both amnesia and displacement. Why did he forget in the first place? Maybe all of the stuff he was doing for Basch and the others was distracting him. "It's okay, I guess." He said, shrugging slightly. "But it isn't like I would have been _that_ burdened, you know."

"Can we get back to the main topic?" Havharo asked, sounding irritable. "I care not for these stories or drama, however, the Marquis' announcement of an execution did not occur…that is quite troubling. It would appear he might side with the Empire, or at the very least, obeys what is ordered by them."

"…But he funds you guys? Aren't you a Resistance?" Zack noted skeptically. That didn't make any sense; why would someone help one side, while secretly helping another? Was that Ondore guy playing both sides?

Havharo frowned, "Perhaps a meeting should be arranged between the Marquis and you, Basch." The man looked to a dim corner, which a man stepped forward into the light…Well…It looked like a man. With fur. And a stubby tail. And really regal-looking clothes. Zack watched the man-creature approach Havharo, the both of them talking quietly amongst themselves.

Zack sighed; he really needed to get used to the humanoid creatures of Ivalice. "_Talking lizards, walking disfigured pigs, actual Moogles, and now royal cats. What next?_"

"I shall arrange a meeting." The cat man said to Basch, his voice really heavy with an accent common around Bhujerba. Well, at least Zack thought the accent was a common thing, anyway. While both Basch and the cat man quibbled over the conditions of the meeting, Zack headed back out to the main bar with the others. Zack figured they wanted to wait outside, which was fine with him. After all, that drink he saw the bar patrons enjoy did look pretty good, and now was a good time to try it out.

He approached at bar and waved for the barkeep. "Yo! One of those drinks, if you don't mind-"

The barkeep only took one look at him, then turned around and waved a hand impatiently. "Tch, you're too young for this stuff boy. Come back in two years."

…What did he just say? "Too young?! What's that supposed to mean?!" Zack demanded. He was old enough to get a spirit anytime he wanted in Midgar, since he was in SOLDIER, and enjoyed a good drink on a rare occasion. At least, that's what he remembered about his life in Midgar. But he did remember, and that was the important thing! "I get drinks all the time back where I come from!"

"The drinking age here is higher than your age, boy. Now get lost." Came the short retort, the barkeep already heading to fill a different patron's glass.

"_Ivalice gets worse and worse the longer I stay here_." Zack thought, sending the barkeep a sour look. "_Just wait 'till I get back, then everything will be right in the world._"

"Zack! C'mon, we're leaving!" Vaan's voice called over the noise of the bar, but his voice almost was drowned out by the shouting and shanties from the drunken patrons. With a sigh, Zack maneuvered out of the busy _Cloudborne_, resolving that he needed to put twice as much focus on finding a way back to Gaia…

Good thing they had an appointment with the Marquis of Bhujerba. Chances were that _he_ would know something about surrounding landmasses.

"…_Please, for the love of the __**Planet**__, let that Ondore guy know something!_"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

The Marquis Ondore did indeed own a fabulous estate. His palace alone would have been considered modest in design compared to other palaces such as Rabanastre's or Arcades'. What it lacked, however, it made up in sheer artistry that neither palace possessed. Because of special magicite workers that lived in Bhujerba, the magickal stone was used as decorations that awed even the most cultured of Humes. A testament to the magnificence of the Marquis' palace were the massive and graceful wings made entirely out of magicite, which sparkled brilliantly all hours of the waking day. It truly was a splendorous estate, and with the upkeep Ondore constantly needed, he employed native Bhujerbans to assist with palace needs if anything were to come up.

Since the Empire recently visited Bhujerba, the Arcadians imposed themselves onto the Marquis' hospitality for a brief while until retiring to their massive warships that floated ominously around the floating city. Although the visit was short, the mess left in the Arcadians wake was more then enough for the Marquis to employ some temporary workers to assist with the cleanup following the visit.

Luckily for Farr Pilotro, he was selected along with a few other friends to step past the guarded gates and enter the grand palace that the Marquis Ondore called home.

Their task was simple. They were to clean any linens and broken items that may have become dislodged from their places due to visitor discourtesy, as well as help out in the kitchens with cleaning soiled dishes. Added, if they were called upon to attend to the Marquis or another guest that needed their assistance, they were also required to help with whatever task it may be.

The experience for Farr was incredible. He normally worked with a low salary, as a cartographer for the Cartographer's Guild. However, he only made maps for either Bhujerba itself or the Lhusu Mines. These were sold frequently to travelers, but recently business had been slow, and the extra money from taking the job at the palace might ensure a better location for selling much rarer maps.

After all, as a Moogle, Farr wanted to see much more places than the same hilly surroundings he got used to! Places like the Tchita Uplands and Salikawood were calling his name! He wanted to explore all of Ivalice, and map every single thing he could until his wings and paws fell off!

But for now it was time to clean dastardly smudges off one of the Marquis' windows. He worked efficiently, getting every single spot on the reflective surface until it shined even more brightly than the stars in the night sky. And indeed, the night sky outside was stunning to look at through such an amazingly clear window. Satisfied with his work, Farr entered another room and closed the door behind him.

"Now what is-Kupo?!" Farr gasped and almost stumbled over his stubby legs, his jaw dropped in complete awe.

Books upon books lined countless shelves in the room he entered, with a huge map of Ivalice actually painted on the south wall, accurate down to the last detail. Rich rugs lined the stone floor, giving the ground a pleasant and plushy feeling underneath Farr's leather-soled shoes. Tables and chairs were placed liberally around the room, with a huge desk right in the center of the room itself. Books were stacked awkwardly on the desk, and Farr could see black colored spikes just beyond the piles.

"Nothing…" A book flew into the air, landing on top of the already wobbly pile. A flash of black and dark blue raced by Farr so fast that it made him spin, the blur snatching a huge book from the shelf nearby the map of Ivalice. Before Farr could even take a good look at the mysterious blur, it had already returned to the makeshift fort at the desk. The sounds of pages turning reached Farr's sensitive ears.

"Nothing!" Noticeable frustration sounded from the voice of the blur and another book flew into the air, dropping on another leaning pile of books.

Cautiously, Farr approached the desk, unsure whether or not the being behind it was intelligent or some sort of book demon that inhabited the Marquis' library. Nervously, he gulped. "Is everything alright, sir?"

"No, everything _isn't_ right. I can't find anything in all of these dumb books about my home!" The frustrated voice responded. "Everywhere I go, I get no answers! Nobody knows about Gaia. Nobody has any idea where Midgar is, or how I can even get back there!" A groan came, "I am _never_ going to get home like this…"

Farr blinked in surprise at first. This…being who sat behind the desk sure sounded like he had problems. Placement problems, which could be easily fixed by a good map! …The problem was, however, was that Farr didn't know of any of the places the being mentioned. He must have been more clueless about the world than he thought! "Kupo…You are having problems?"

Books shifted from the desk and a young face peered down at him curiously. "Oh. A Moogle."

Farr flapped his wings indignantly, but repressed a sarcastic reply in favor of staring. The Hume that looked down at him seemed so…well, foreign. Farr had seen sable haired Humes, but this Hume had the spikiest and blackest hair Farr had ever seen before; even Arcadians didn't have that dark of hair! Added, the Hume's eyes actually _glowed_ with some sort of light that seemed unnatural to the Moogle. A small scar sat on the young Hume's jaw line, faint enough to not be noticed unless standing at a close enough distance.

"You know that staring is rude, right?" The Hume asked with a small smirk. Farr realized his error and backed away slightly, his ears lowering in humiliation.

"I am so sorry sir! I should not have done that-kupo-I just-!" Farr stopped upon seeing the Hume raise a hand to indicate that he should stop talking.

"Look, it's alright. You aren't the first person to stare at me today, anyway." The Hume sighed, picking books up off of the desk and piling them on top of another on a small cart nearby. "And you probably won't be the last either."

"…Sorry, kupo." Farr said, feeling quite terrible now. The Hume now looked troubled and sad, something that the Moogle felt did not sit right with the sort of Hume he was. "Are you a guest of the Marquis?"

The young Hume laughed a little at the question, but an air of sadness still seemed to surround him. "No, I'm more of a guest of a guest. I pulled a favor from someone I know to get me in here, but I think it was a waste now."

"Why do you say that?" Farr asked, tilting his head slightly as he was prone to do when he was curious. "Did you find what you were looking for? Perhaps I could assist you?"

"Unless you know the nearest airship heading to a place called 'Midgar', I don't think you'd be able to help." The Hume replied dryly, a faint smirk on his face. He sighed a little despondently, "The closest thing I found to even resembling the _word_ Midgar was something about a rare snake in someplace called the 'Golmore Jungle'. That was called a 'Midgardsormr' though…"

"This Midgar sounds like a very important place to you. What continent is it located on?" Farr asked, his curiosity peaking even more. This Hume might just live beyond even the Cartography Guild's range, perhaps a country that existed even farther away than Rozarria! If he got his paws on that sort of information, then he would be the most prestigious Moogle in the Cartographer's Guild for years!

"Gaia." The Hume replied simply, with a shrug of his shoulders. "Let me guess, you've never heard of it?"

Farr lowered his head, "No, kupo. But I would like to! This Gaia sounds very far, perhaps even farther away than mapped known areas!"

The Hume stared at him, an eyebrow rising questioningly. "So…you're saying that maybe if I get around more and go past these 'mapped areas' I could find Gaia?"

"It's possible, don't give up!" Farr replied, nodding enthusiastically. "If you came from such a place, surely you can return as well, kupo!"

"_And, hopefully, lead others there so that we may extend our knowledge of the world farther into the unknown…_" Farr added in his thoughts. He watched the man before him think it over as he paced.

_Thump, thump, thump!_

Farr's ear twitched as a sound came to his attention, sounding much like footsteps beating in a run down the hall outside of the library. Before he could even start, the Hume he was speaking with tensed with an alert expression. Did he hear that too? It should have been too soft a sound for a normal Hume to hear…

"What's going on?" The Hume mused aloud, opening the door behind Farr. Outside stood two of the palace guards, both armed and stern in appearance. Behind them, Farr saw four more guards run by, towards the Marquis' study.

"You are to come with us." One of the guards said tartly, looking at the younger Hume with a dangerous expression. "The Marquis' orders."

The younger Hume frowned, "What for?"

"You and your friends are to be taken straight to the _Leviathan_, under the custody of the Judge Ghis."

The Hume crossed his arms, a skeptical tone entering his voice. "You're arresting me, right? Do you _realize_ how stupid that is? I'm not about to go anywhere-"

The guard next to the talking guard raised a hand suddenly, magickal energies flickering at the tips of his fingers. "Sleep!"

Farr watched in astonishment as a green-colored aura of magick flew from the guard's hand, the spell hitting the black haired Hume right in the face before he could dodge. Apparently, the Hume wasn't expecting the sudden spell, and fell back with a sharp 'Thud'. His glowing eyes were closed, but he was breathing steadily, like he really was sleeping. The guard who cast the spell marched in and snapped a heavy bond around the Hume's wrists, shackling him to ensure he would not have use of his hands when he would awaken next.

The other guard glared at Farr as the magick guard dragged the black haired Hume out of the library. "You saw nothing."

Meekly, Farr nodded, his red pompom bouncing along to his nods. With a satisfied expression, the guard turned to leave.

"Be sure to clean up this mess in here."

The door shut, leaving Farr alone within the messy library.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** I hate filler chapters with no awesome action, but hopefully Leviathan's chapter will be filled with more action to make up for this chapter. Unfortunately, I'm drawing close to my AP Tests, so an update might take longer than usual, unfortunately. Sorry people!

**Random Moogle:** Sahxyel would like to thank R.O.S. and Blue-Huntress for reviewing! Thank you, kupo!

Replies to Reviews:

**Damien The Prince of Darkness:** Good question, which involves game mechanics and not the actual plotline! So, I can actually answer it! Eventually, the FFXII gang will be to par with Zack someday, but not now. By then, Zack might only be a tad stronger, because of the reasons you have mentioned as well as the added experience he gains during this adventure.

**Wonderfoal:** Many people seemed to enjoy that comment too, which I was surprised at. Oddities with game mechanics will be featured more next chapter, so look forward to it if you like those quips!

**Honor:** Zack's level is yet again an amusing aspect! As for 'Touch Me' (I love/hate those things!) those will be mentioned, but because there is no frog small enough to resemble one, Zack will probably just mention them in passing. As Zack progresses through the world of Ivalice, he'll notice the similarly named things eventually, so that will bring some fun dialogue later on…

**SharperImage:** Originally, this wasn't supposed to be fullblown. But, I sorta got attacked by Epic Plotbunnies that demanded seeing Zack later on in the story, and those plot bunnies kidnapped my imagination. So, tada! As for Materia, back in the first chapter, Marcus Lentil mentioned that he had 'pretty blue, green, yellow, and purple ones' back at his flat in Arcades. Two years passed, so who knows where those orbs might be now? Vincent won't have his own Summon Materia, but his existence in this fic ties with a specific Esper. I'm not saying which one because I have too much fun thinking about it. (And making everyone guess themselves!)

**Yuleen75:** The truth about Zack comes in time to the FFXII gang, but they won't really start thinking about it until they accept most of what he says (which they don't yet). With trust comes the TRUTH!

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**Sahxyel:** And that's that. Review if you have a question or comment! Until next time, dear readers!


	5. Chapter V

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter V**

"As you can see, this man is at a greater level of experience compared to the others. Remarkable, isn't it? Even some of the Judges cannot match to that." A bangle upon Upton Reinwrick's wrist jingled as he looked the sleeping man over. Normally, people of such strength were few and far between, for nobody in their right minds would train themselves to a level that this man obviously trained. A person of a level thirty was completely common, but fifty? That was remarkably odd for anyone off the street to be. For Ultima's sake, Arcades only had handfuls of warriors that could match such strength!

The question now came to how anyone so young and odd could even be at such a level to start with. The other arrested criminals insisted that they had just met him and did not know why he was such powerhouse, although the most assumed answer was that he was a warrior back at his home country. What country was the problem, as everyone was certain he was not Dalmascan, but also was not of Arcades as well. Secretly, most researchers aboard the _Dreadnought Leviathan_ thought he was some sort of top Rozarrian warrior, despite the protests the other arrested fugitives said. After all, this 'Gaia' and 'Midgar' they kept referencing sounded as though it was made up to cover for where the lad came from.

Taking the bangle off, the effect of Libra faded away from Upton's sight, leaving him looking at nothing but the man himself. The man snoozed on, still afflicted with the sleep condition one of the guards in Bhujerba set on him so transference would be seamless. Indeed, the judgment was entirely smart, for the researcher knew that the man would not have come along unless of his own accord. However, since arriving, the spell had not worn off as it should have, and so, the man was taken to their division for simple analysis.

Other researchers surrounding the man finally stopped taking their notes on the Libra's information for a quick exam of his physical features. The man had unusual muscle mass which explained his strength. Nothing otherwise was off…except for one _other_ thing.

The man's eyes absolutely glowed, despite his unconscious state. As soon as the heavy lids were raised for casual optical inspection, unnatural light shined forth from what should have normally been simple blue eyes. Immediately, all researchers present had their curiosities peaked by this wholly unusual feature, Upton naturally being one of them. Already, talk floated around as devices and needles came out from drawers and cases, and excited burbles over what the strange glowing could be fizzled up.

Upton personally thought the glowing was caused by magickal properties, perhaps in overexposure to Mist. However, the levels to make one glow with such magick was unheard of, since most who were subjected to long trials in heavy Mist-infested areas developed some sort of sickness and simply died. The tolerance the man had to have for such levels of Mist was completely unimaginable, but the option could not be ruled out.

Nearby, an associate of Upton's slid a needle into the mysterious warrior's skin, withdrawing ruby red blood from his veins. The warrior flinched, but remained asleep, although a troubled expression flitted across his face. Upton found this strange; the man shouldn't have felt such a tiny prick from the needle in his unconscious state. Perhaps he was hypersensitive-

"GACK!"

A mangled yell came from Upton's associate, but already Upton scrambled in a desperate panic at the hand which suddenly lashed out and gripped him by the neck, squeezing ever so much that Upton was completely sure he _could not breathe_. The man on the table was bolt upright, his eyes a beacon of a furious gleaming green that glared through Upton's soul almost.

"_You._" The man said, with a snarl in his voice that oozed anger and pain all at once. The man's eyes were oddly glazed, however, as though he was not fully aware of what was going on. For some reason, he was focused completely on Upton alone, for he did not even notice the several other researchers scramble about for anything to subdue the strangely foreign…_alien_…young man. Terror gripped Upton as he thrashed valiantly against his attacker, but gained no leverage whatsoever in his endeavor.

Upton's vision began to swim as his flails slowly diminished, his lungs almost shriveling inside his chest. He clawed at the man's hand in vain, feeling the pressure around his throat constrict. Everything around Upton began to dim as his lungs burned with fire, the glowing of a fierce blue-green the only thing he could see…

And the pressure around his throat was suddenly gone. Upton inhaled deeply several times, drinking in the sweet air as though it were the elixir of life. His mind was muddled, but slowly his recollections came about him, and he realized for the first time in what _had_ to be minutes that he was actually laying on the floor. His vision was blurred, but did not return even as his sharp mind came around. Reaching to his face, Upton realized his glasses had been knocked off, probably when the young man started choking him.

Slowly, Upton groped around the floor and found the spectacles not a few feet away and retrieved them, sitting them back in their proper place. The world sharpened and came into focus, allowing him to fully see. He, in spite of himself, gasped in astonishment.

Deep gashes trailed along the metallic walls of the Research Division, cutting through various cables, computers, and screens. Sparks flickered out of open wires, spitting tiny flickers of light onto the white tiled floor. Vials and beakers that used to line the immaculate counters were smashed and scattered, with irreplaceable liquids creating puddles on the floor and counters. His associates lay scattered around the Division, their bodies limp and unmoving. For a second, fear gripped through Upton as he scrambled to the nearest researcher; a bright young man by the name of Reynold Eerier. Shakily, Upton placed two fingers underneath the poor man's throat.

"Oh thank Ultima." Upton sighed, feeling a heartbeat thrum underneath his fingers. The lad was alive, and that was comfort enough.

Upton stood from the floor and swayed slightly, his head still swimming from his lack of oxygen earlier. Long greasy strands of his hair were flung towards the front of his face, jostled from his hair tie, no doubt. Pushing the black strands aside, he hurried to an unharmed computer console and hastily typed in the panic code to set the alarms off inside the _Dreadnought Leviathan_.

A few moments later, a claxon of sound erupted from the overhead speakers.

He returned to typing in the console, and brought up the console in Judge Ghis' commanding deck. The bewildered face of a young man of maybe eighteen years old blinked at him in astonishment, an intern who probably was assisting the flying of the ship. "We have a problem." Upton said, panic almost infiltrating his voice.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Zack barreled down hallway after hallway, half in a state of blind panic as he ran onward, passing corridor after corridor until his lungs burned for air. By then, he figured he was far away from the place he had woken up in, and stopped for a breather.

"Those people…I-…" He was at a complete loss for words, as shame overwhelmed him. He struck down so many people in the place he had awakened in, but not for any good reason. It was because they were _there_ trying to stop him from killing the first guy he saw as soon as he woke up from a freakish nightmare. The nightmare was still going on moments after he woke up, and Zack saw the sneering sadistic face of a greasy haired man with shiny glasses looming over him like a hawk as mako drowned out his senses and vision…

But it wasn't real.

Zack _knew_ the nightmare wasn't real, but the man he had held somehow reminded him of the man in his dream; the one that caused the screaming and the pain and did so with a smile on his face that would send chills down anyone's spine. Zack guessed it was because of the similar appearance, but the man he nearly killed earlier didn't actually look much like the crazy mad scientist in his dream. Still, the vague similarity allowed Zack to imagine it was the crazy scientist standing over him, and after that it was pretty much over as far as he remembered.

He had realized he was mistaken before the man stopped breathing and dropped him. As soon as that realization slapped him across the face, Zack also realized he wasn't in a dark and dank laboratory, a place that seemed very familiar to Zack and yet he couldn't recall where it was. Instead, he was in a bright and sterile laboratory, filled with the many unconscious forms of scientists. His Buster Sword was held in his left hand, but how he managed to get it was vague in his memory. He guessed it was nearby and he snatched it up. It explained why the people were unconscious and why everything was broken, to say the least.

After that, he just…well…ran.

With a sigh, he shook his head. The dream still haunted him with images of unspeakable things, either being done to him or some peculiar person with chocobo hair. Zack tried banishing the thought from his head, but it still surfaced again and again. He wondered if it was a memory that hid in his subconscious…dreams never felt so real to him like that one had…

He shook his head again stubbornly and headed down a hall in a brisk walk. Admittedly, he didn't know where he was going, but he figured it was better than standing around. Already, someone would probably try to find him after that whole incident in the lab. In that case, Zack was willing to find a way out of wherever he was and return back to Bhujerba to finish looking through Ondore's library for something about Gaia. A sense of urgency pounded through him as he thought of returning to Gaia, and how vital it felt after that strangely vivid dream.

Only five minutes passed before the entire hall we was currently in turned from being lit white to crimson, with a blaring alarm sound off overhead. "And there it is." Zack couldn't help but mutter. He was expecting an alarm, since someone would probably have been upset by the condition he left the lab in. The alarm itself was really loud and annoying, typical of any army-style alarm Zack had heard back at Shinra.

He ignored the noise and continued down the hall, only to see several men clad in shining armor turn a corner ahead. Immediately, Zack recognized them as Arcades soldiers, much like the ones that guarded the Aerodome back at Rabanastre. The difference was that these new soldiers were armed with swords, not spears, and were clearly more capable of fighting that the others Zack had seen.

"There he is!" One of the soldiers shouted. The peal of metal sliding against sheath rang into the alarm-filled air, as four gleaming swords found their way into the air. "Get him!"

"Whoa, wait a minute!" Zack held up his hands in a sort of placating way, trying to indicate he wasn't going to attack, but the guards charged at him yelling war cries, their swords swiping through the air right at him. Nimbly, Zack jumped back and whipped the Buster Sword over his shoulder, immediately settling into a defensive position a few feet away. The guards ran towards him, unfazed by his jump or his massive sword like other Ivalice dwellers were, and swung their swords sharply.

"_They're going for the kill!_" Zack thought in alarm as he blocked two swords, only for his right arm to get sliced by a swift soldier to his far right. It stung, but not as much as Zack had expected. The swipes were quite weak, something that reminded Zack of being gnawed on by a Steeling back at the Lhusu Mines. The attacks _should_ have hurt more than what he was experiencing, but they weren't. What was up with that?

The soldiers noticed this as well and faltered for the first time, allowing Zack a good opening. Taking the flat of his blade, he slammed the two guards in front of him with a powerful swing, sending the men flying into the air like rag dolls. The other two soldiers watched the flying men execute a perfect arc in the air, ending in a nasty crash a few feet away. Soft groans came from them, but the soldiers didn't move from the floor.

"Oh sweet Exodus…" One of the conscious soldiers muttered. The other gulped nervously and turned around with his companion, both visibly unwilling to move forward to attack, but not stowing their weapons either. Zack wasn't sure what they were going to do since they weren't going for retreat or attack. He decided to stay in a defensive position and see what would happen next.

They stood there for a good while staring at each other. The alarms had mysteriously shut off, for whatever reason, but Zack stood frozen with the soldiers ahead of him.

Finally, it was the nervous soldier that spoke first. "Aren't you going to attack?"

"No." Zack replied, still keeping the Buster Sword steady. "What about you and your buddy? Going to stand there until one of us moves?"

The two soldiers barely turned their heads to glance at one another through their shaded visors. "Erm…We were sent to prevent you from escaping." The other soldier said meekly, with no authority in his voice. "We are bound by our orders."

"That sounds familiar." Zack couldn't help but say, with a miniscule smile on his face. "I'd hear that all the time from my superiors back where I come from. You two aren't that stupid to fall for those orders, are you?"

The nervous soldier looked to his partner again. "You know, he's right. We can't beat him like this; we're only infantry!"

"Shut up, Deweg. If we just let him go, what do you think will happen to us?" The first soldier hissed quietly. Naturally, Zack heard him anyway. "Can you imagine what Judge Ghis will do to us if we let him go?!"

"Can you imagine what _he'll_ do to use if we don't?" The soldier, Deweg, replied back hastily. "I don't want to die, thank you very much. Maybe _you_ do Gibbs, but I like living. This guy just walloped Jesse and Turret, and they aren't moving…and he hit them with the _flat_ of his sword, Gibbs. The _flat_!"

The two continued to squabble unmercifully, totally ignoring Zack as they went back and forth. Slowly, Zack placed the Buster Sword behind his back and walked around them quietly, to not disturb them as they continued their argument. He almost laughed at one point when the soldier named 'Deweg' whined about how much their job stunk, only to get reprimanded by Gibbs a moment later. Neither of them noticed him sneak away, leaving them to their argument.

As Zack walked into another hall in his quest to leave the ship, he inwardly wished the men the best of luck when explaining to their 'Judge Ghis' how their encounter went. He couldn't help but smile at the mental image he received and how badly they would be chewed out by their boss. It didn't matter what continent he was on, Zack still found infantrymen totally hilarious.

He stopped and blinked, realizing what he just thought. _Did_ he find infantrymen back at Shinra funny? Zack couldn't recall much from the thought, but something in his mind burned on the fact that he _did_ think infantry was funny to mess with. Shrugging to himself, he continued onward down the hall, and soon found himself faced with a humongous door, leading out to what looked like some sort of docking area for airships.

"I'm in a base?" Zack wondered, frowning slightly. He figured he was in some sort of military place, but it must have been serious to have so many airships parked outside. Then again, Zack mused, they must have needed the base to keep tabs on Bhujerba and Rabanastre too. It was…strategic. But also troublesome. Zack knew he would be seen if he waltzed out of the base without anything, and if he was in the middle of the desert it would make matters worse. No water was the primary problem with that.

Pressing a mechanism on the door, Zack stood back and watched it open, only to almost be tugged forward by a powerful vortex of air coming from outside, siphoning the air from within the ship out. He stepped past the threshold of the door and away from the vortex, near a railing. Outside of the door, Zack found out very fast that he wasn't in a base at all. Nope. Bases didn't fly.

He was in a gigantic airship.

A gigantic airship that could carry _smaller_ airships in it, and not look like a flying rusted piece of junk that Shinra was always famous for.

_Now_ Zack discovered a positive thing to tack onto Ivalice. They sure did know how to make airships. Seriously amazing airships, anyway.

"Wow…" He peered over the railing and saw a vast mat of beige and brown laid out below, with dots of green here and there for desert shrubbery. It felt similar to how high up he felt back at Bhujerba when he stared down over the railing, the key difference being that instead of water, he was now above a vast desert. "This is pretty cool…"

Although it was unspoken by the public, Shinra's air brigade wasn't all that great. Even the largest, dubbed the _Highwind_, wouldn't be able to fly so high or harbor more ships in it as it went along business. Transport planes were way smaller, and the helicopter series were specifically reserved for Turk or SOLDIER use. Nothing, not even the rocket in Rocket Town, could hold a match to this technology of flight. Perhaps, if the President was willing, he could've shelled out the Gil to create something of this caliber or even something better with the mako technology they controlled. But, then again, Zack doubted that would ever happen.

"Zack?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Zack's eyes fell on two people who had just emerged from the door that went back into the interior of the airship. Although he didn't recognize the blonde haired girl, the shorter black haired person with her he knew right off the bat.

"Lamont?" He smiled slightly and turned to face the two, crossing his arms to get in a more relaxed position. "I never thought I'd see _your_ face again after the Lhusu Mines. Did the big bad snake scare you that badly?"

Lamont offered a sheepish look. "No, but I had things to attend to and couldn't be…"

"Questioned?" Zack finished, smirking a little. Lamont cleared his throat awkwardly and looked away, but Zack could tell there was a little bit of guilt gnawing on him. "Your business is your business, Lamont. Although, I'm wondering why a shorty like you is on an airship like this…with a _girl_." Zack grinned and glanced at the blonde haired girl, who turned a nice shade of pink at his implication.

"No-no, we've only just met." She said quickly, pulling her hand away from his. Lamont also turned a slight pink shade, suddenly very interested in the railing nearby. "Larsa's helping me find my friend. We think he's somewhere around here-"

"Larsa?" Zack grew puzzled and tilted his head a little to the left in thought. "Huh…so why is Lamont helping you look instead of this 'Larsa' person?"

The two fixed him with an incredulous stare, in turn making Zack frown slightly. He usually didn't get _that_ facial expression unless…"I'm missing something, aren't I?"

"I apologize Zack; I was using a pseudonym to avoid attracting attention to myself." 'Lamont said. "My actual name is Larsa Solidor, youngest son to Emperor Gramis of Arcades."

Zack stared long and hard at him. At first, he wasn't sure if 'Larsa' was just joking or not, but the serious expression on the kid's face didn't disappear. Then again, it made sense that Larsa was royalty. He carried himself in an important way and talked with a high and mighty vocabulary that not many people off the street in Ivalice had. That and it explained why he was dressed so nicely. "Son of the big bad Emperor, huh? Wow, now I get why you wouldn't want anyone to find out who you are."

Larsa nodded, "Yes, I needed to keep my identity a secret; otherwise I never would have found a way to the mines. My escorts…were reluctant to take me there."

Zack nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I'd figure royalty wouldn't be allowed to run around in a mine full of monsters." He chuckled, "So, then, that explains why you're here. But not why you're helping her look for her friend…"

The blonde haired girl looked down, worry covering her features. Larsa glanced at her, and then back to Zack. "I feel the need to. Vaan was looking for her in the mines, and with her in my custody she can't be arrested for trespassing in the mines during a lockdown."

"Vaan was looking…-She's Penelo!?" Zack smiled, "Small world."

"And getting smaller." A cultured voice came from behind the three, prompting all of them, including Zack, to start slightly in surprise and turn around. Behind, there stood Balthier, with a huge group of people behind him. Zack recognized Basch, Fran, and Vaan immediately, but two new people also were with them as well, one man and one woman. Balthier grinned slyly. "These chance meetings keep occurring, Larsa. I'm starting to wonder whether or not it is intentional."

"Balthier?" Larsa frowned and stepped slightly to the left, shifting on heel. Zack could see the young man was critically looking at Balthier, as though he were sizing him up. "I take you and your associates are escaping, correct?"

"Yes, we are." Balthier replied airily. "And you?"

Larsa only glanced at Penelo for a moment, as that was enough answer for Balthier. Vaan's voice scratched through the air, "Penelo!"

"Vaan!" Penelo smiled and ran for the young thief, leaving Larsa's side. Larsa gazed on, perturbed, but keep a wary gaze on Balthier every now and then.

Zack cleared his throat, trying to break the tension. "So, Balthier, what's all this about escaping?"

"Ah, yes, we've the urgency of getting back to Bhujerba as soon as possible, with fair princess in tow." Balthier replied easily. The woman that Zack did not recognize gasped at first in surprise at Balthier, then shot him an annoyed expression. Balthier didn't seem to notice. "Coming along?" With that, he strode towards one of the smaller airships with both Basch and Fran following him. Vaan pulled Penelo onward, after them, leaving Zack standing with the man, woman, and Larsa.

"You must leave, your majesty. I shall stay behind, perhaps to find an answer to our plight." The man said; his hard eyes focused on the woman. He then turned his head to gaze at Larsa, but said nothing, instead sharing a long look with the young Solidor. Larsa gazed back for a long while, before turning and leaving the docking bay without any word. Zack watched the exchange in confusion, but said nothing.

"Thank you, Vossler." The woman replied, nodding to him. "Perhaps our fighting against the Empire will soon end…" The woman turned for the ship and walked away. Zack made to follow her, and soon entered the small airship as well, perplexed beyond words.

Sometimes it was really hard to follow what was going on. Zack just hoped whatever _was_ happening wasn't over his head.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

"I see. What a fortuitous outcome." The Marquis Halim Ondore murmured as he sat back in his plush seat, gazing at the disgraced former Captain with a certain amount of interest. It hadn't been long since Basch and the others had left to the _Dreadnought Leviathan_, and their return was within a few hours after they left. The Marquis readily accepted them, and had requested an audience with Basch in particular. "I see that my ploy worked. Had the Empire suspected anything, things may have ended on a different note."

Basch nodded in agreement. "An excellent ruse, but the Empire won't be fooled for long. Recapturing Ashelia will be their top priority now…"

"Which is why she is to remain here, in my custody." Ondore said patiently. Basch started in surprise, but the Marquis simply held up a hand to silence him. "Please, do not question my judgment. The Princess Ashe cannot roam Ivalice in search of her birthright. The Empire would be sure to find her, as they have reaches to the very corners of the Galtean Peninsula. Even if she were to find the Dusk Shard, what would become of her?"

"She would reclaim her throne rightfully from the Empire." Basch replied, frowning at the Marquis in clear disagreement. "Far too long has Ashe lived underground, fighting for a way to free Dalmasca from the Empire's clutches. If the people of Dalmasca knew their rightful leader were alive, and had proof of her royal blood, the Empire will have no hold."

Ondore leaned back in his seat and sighed, shaking his head disagreeably. "The Empire would not take such a rash action lightly. I am sorry Basch but I cannot condone her leaving Bhujerba. And that is final."

Basch felt the corner of his lip twitch, but suppressed it, in favor of leaving the Marquis' office briskly. He passed the guards that stood at their posts, heading right for one of the major conference rooms Ondore had within his lavish home. It was not far from the Marquis' study, taking only a few moments for him to reach the room.

Inside, Vaan and Penelo were conversing with each other animatedly, Vaan regaling her with tales of the Barheim Passage and Lhusu Mines by the sound of it. Balthier and Fran sat on an opposite end of the room, gazing at a rather entrancing piece of amber-colored magicite that Basch recognized as Vaan's 'Goddess' Magicite. Ashe sat alone at a table, gazing sullenly out a wide window nearby at the beauteous scenery of Bhujerba's city. Zack wasn't present; he was back in the Marquis' Library, pouring over the many maps Ondore possessed.

Vaan glanced past Penelo, towards him. "Oh-hey! Basch, how did the meeting with the Marquis go?"

Basch frowned and walked to Ashe's table, a shadow flitting across his face. He did not answer; what was he supposed to say? A failure for the future of Dalmasca?

Ashe noticed his expression and grew tense. "What happened?" She asked sharply. Basch only sighed tiredly, standing at the edge of the table with his hand resting on the cherrywood finish. He gazed out the window Ashe had previously stared out at and sighed again, "He refuses to allow your leave."

"What?!" Ashe stood up from her seat, planting her hands onto the table in a quick slam. "I must leave! How can he just sit on his cloud and tell me what I can and cannot do? I am bound by Dalmasca; I _must_ free it from the Empire!…Even if it involves me having company with murders and thieves." She muttered sullenly, glancing briefly at the other inhabitants of the room.

Balthier chuckled lowly, a sarcastic tone in his chuckles. "I see you aren't very grateful, princess. However, I am not willing to proceed any further in this tale. I've gotten what I originally wanted…" He showed off the Goddess Magicite to Ashe, earning him a scowl from her. "Why would I wish to continue on?"

"Good riddance, then." Ashe said, turning her head away from the sky pirate. She focused, instead, on Basch yet again. She shared a silent look with him, one that Basch had seen several times before, back during the Nabudis war. It was a mysterious, but defiant, gleam that came from her eyes as she walked away, and left them within the conference room.

Basch glanced once more at the window; it was turning twilight outside, and soon would grow dark. The others kept silent, but all seemed to notice the sunset as well.

"We'll set off in the morning, then." Balthier announced, "Fran, if you will?"

The Viera took the Goddess Magicite from him as they both departed from the room, leaving Basch now with the two young Dalmascans. Vaan was now frowning, obviously troubled by something. Penelo, in turn, touched the young man's shoulder, putting the expression out like that of a weak flame on a candle.

"So that's it. We all go our separate ways tomorrow." Vaan was now frowning by the revelation. "I can't believe it…"

"You had your adventure, at least." Penelo said lightly, helping Vaan up from his seated position. "Perhaps Migelo won't worry about you and the desert now, hm?"

"Yeah yeah…" Vaan still appeared to be put-out as he left with Penelo. Basch stood alone in the room, together with only his own musings. He regarded Vaan's reaction as odd; had he enough adventure in a lifetime? Or did he want more? It was peculiar, but then again, everything that had happened so far since escaping from the Barheim Passage felt odd in its own way. Sometimes, Basch felt it was fate that had pulled the ragtag group together, and it seemed like fate was allowing their ways to part.

He finally left the conference room and walked down the hall, wondering what there was to do next. He supposed he would stay with the Princess, since he was bound by his duty and honor to keep her safe and away from Imperial hold. He had to admit that Vossler did do an impressive job of keeping her safe, but had failed by the time of his arrival. Had the rescue not go as planned…

It was a secret ploy, concocted by Ondore to fool the Empire into taking all of them onto the ship. Basch knew he was pulling those who weren't really a part of the political squabble, as Balthier noted to him, but their assistance was vital into rescuing Ashe. Without Balthier and Fran, their successful override of the _Dreadnought Leviathan_ alarm system would never have happened. Vaan and his knack for magick helped in times of need when serious injuries were attained, only to be completely healed by a swift Cure spell a moment later. And Zack…his diversion was what ensured Ghis to set sights on him, and not they. The retrieval of Ashe and the escape went flawlessly because of the singular diversion.

They were all paid respective dues. Ondore offered them all a stay at his marvelous mansion in exchange for their unasked services, to which all of them readily accepted without much complaint.

Basch did not realize how far he had walked under that train of thought. Before he knew it, he ended up on the other side of Ondore's mansion, nearby the personal docking area of the esteemed Marquis. Inside was Balthier's airship, the _Strahl_, moved there by a Moogle named 'Nono'. Basch supposed the service was provided by Ondore as a means of placating the sky pirate, and to ensure a quiet getaway for the two when they leave.

He noticed that the doorway to the docking area was left open, curiously enough. At first Basch was tempted to leave, but curiosity burned over his better judgment. He entered the huge area and looked around, at first the railing and surrounding the ship, to the entryway which was open. "Strange…didn't Balthier say he was leaving tomorrow?" Basch muttered to himself.

"Stupid-gah-maybe if I just…" A voice came from inside, faintly, but incredibly familiar. Basch walked into the _Strahl_ in surprise, glancing inside to see a familiar figure in the cockpit, fooling around with the airship's controls. "How the heck does this thing work?!"

"Zack?" Basch asked, stepping inward towards the cockpit. Zack's flinched, probably in surprise, and held his shoulders up, his head sunk down sheepishly. A nervous chuckle came from him.

"Hey Basch….what're you doing here?" It was hard to miss the casualness of Zack's voice, as though he was doing absolutely nothing wrong prior to his intrusion. Basch crossed his arms impatiently at the young warrior and frowned slightly.

"I was simply passing, and noticed something amiss with the hangar's doorway." He paused, "You realize stealing is unbecoming, even if it is from a sky pirate."

Zack grimaced a little, leaving the controls alone. He looked to Basch apologetically. "I know. I didn't think I would've actually taken it if it _did_ work for me but I-…" The lad sighed despondently and shook his head. "I dunno. I really need to find a way back to my home; and staying around here is leading me around in circles. I feel like there's something I need to do back at Gaia. Something really important."

Basch regarded Zack curiously, "You remember?"

"No, only bits and pieces." Zack shook his head. "…Can I tell you something?" The young warrior glanced up at him, a sort of pleading gaze in his glowing eyes. "On that ship, the _Dreadnought Leviathan_, you know that diversion I made?"

Nodding, Basch recollected the pandemonium that ensued after Judge Ghis obtained a panicked transmission from somewhere on the ship. It wasn't hard to remember the Judge's furious demeanor afterwards. "Yes. What about it?"

"I didn't mean to do it. At least, not consciously." Zack had an odd expression on his face filled with a troubling deepness Basch never thought was possible for the young man. "I woke up in some sort of laboratory in that ship and freaked out. I attacked everyone in there and knocked them out without any good reason, other than the fact that they were in my way. I don't even know why that happened except…" Zack looked out of the front windshield of the _Strahl_, seemingly distant now. "I thought I was in someplace really bad. And I think it's a place that I know, from my memories. Whatever was happening there was so terrible, and I…I need to go _back_!"

Basch stared at Zack. He never would have thought that the young pup-like Zack could be so troubled as well. He supposed even the optimists had some dark part of them they tried to hide, but never fully managed to. Zack, meanwhile, stared glumly out the window and sighed shakily. "This whole thing isn't right. I _know_ it isn't right. But I can't do anything to fix it."

There was a discernable silence in the cockpit for quite a while, before Basch finally spoke. "If you do not find your answers here, maybe you should seek elsewhere. Was that why you wanted to commandeer the _Strahl_? To search for Gaia?"

"I guess." Zack offered a half-hearted shrug. "A Moogle told me that I could probably find Gaia if I explored unmapped areas, and I thought this thing would do the trick." He smiled weakly and poked a button in front of him on the console, "But I'm not much of a flyer. Ivalice airship controls are too confusing for me, anyway."

Basch smiled very slightly and nodded in agreement. With a sigh, Zack stood up from the pilot seat and stepped around it, snatching his sword from nearby to take with him. "Don't tell Balthier or Fran I tried to do this; I don't think they'd take it really well…" Zack said as he walked alongside Basch as they left the _Strahl_. Basch activated the keypad near the ramp, raising it so it would be properly locked from further intrusions.

"I won't. There is no sense being reprimanded in a crime that hasn't been committed." Basch replied, setting Zack at ease.

"Thanks Basch." The young warrior nodded slightly and walked out of the hangar, sheathing his sword behind his back on the way out.

Basch stood in front of the _Strahl_ a moment longer, staring thoughtfully at nothing in particular. "Hm…" Although he didn't want to say it, Zack would have been the most unfortunate to part ways with. The young man was full of vigor and youthful naiveté, reminding Basch of the wide-eyed warriors of the Royal Rabanastre Army. He was like a vestige of the past, somehow conserved and shielded from the helplessness Ivalice cast over its inhabitants.

Shutting the lights off in the hangar on the way out, Basch made way back to the Marquis' mansion. Outside, the sky was painted with beautiful hues of pink and purple, as the sun had finally set beyond the horizon. Basch breathed out slowly; he hadn't seen a sunset so marvelous in two years…maybe more. It was remarkable what he was missing, from being locked in the Nalbina Dungeons for so long…

"Basch?"

He glanced to his left, to see Ashe standing a few feet away from him. She seemed surprised to see him there. "Yes?"

"What are you doing out here? I thought you'd be inside…" Ashe appeared to be slightly annoyed, a small frown gracing her features.

"I went for a walk." He replied, looking back out at the dimming sky. "…May I ask why you are out here?"

"I went for a walk as well." Ashe replied shortly. She stepped around him and headed towards the direction of the airship hangar, keeping her pace casual. Basch didn't watch her go; instead keeping his eyes on the painted sky. He sighed. Already he knew what the princess was intending to do, but could not stop her from a rash decision.

Besides, after Zack's intrusion, Basch made sure to lock the _Strahl_ from further disturbance. He figured Ashe wouldn't be able to gain entry to the ship, but she would probably frustrate herself trying to get access.

With a sigh, he decided he would stand there and wait for the sky to turn black and for stars to reveal themselves. It had been a long time since he had seen those…

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** What? No game mechanics? Yeah, I lied earlier. I tried fitting it in, but I figured it would work later when the party goes to equip new stuff for their trek through the Sandseas. This was actually _written over three times_, adjustments constantly made as well. I threw in a classic Final Fantasy reference in here though, but I wonder if anyone will pick it up or not…Ah well.

**Random Moogle:** Thanks go to: Daimen Prince of Darkness, The Eternal Dream, artistic sprite, Yuleen75, and reviews of previous chapters! Thank you!

Reply To Reviews:

**Blue-Huntress:** Very perceptive! Yes. But you'll notice that happens WAY in the game to even try and take on where that Esper is located. It's crazy but makes for good storyline!

**Abler:** I did that for a reason. Zack is stronger than them because it's pitting level twenty characters (at max) to a level FIFTY character at this time of the storyline. Hence why Zack's able to one-hit KO everything so far. Why he's like that is explained later on in the storyline, so I can't elaborate much yet.

**EvilSpanker:** I agree; the world of Ivalice was completely amazing, and I did want to see entire Ivalice; not just the Galtean Penninsula. This story will have the characters try and explore land areas unmapped later on, and will be in quite for a surprise…As for Zack being a main character, I wanted that for precisely that reason. Unfortunately, Crisis Core stabs a knife in the relative 'Unknown' personality, so I have to tag it somehow without mutilating the Zack most people know.

**Ndasuunye:** Vossler had a brief cameo in this chapter, since it was in Zack's POV. But he gets seen again…so don't worry. Ehehe, and I'm a girl writing this. Not a guy, lol. As for the meeting and _Leviathan_ (or the _Dreadnought Leviathan_), the Leviathan is a huge Arcadian airship that is floating somewhere beyond Bhujerba. The meeting…I'm not quite sure what you're referencing there, to be honest. Sorry!

**Fantasy's Reflection:** True conflict unveiling is coming VERY soon. It actually started to rear one of its ugly heads in this chapter! (Yes, there's more than one conflict in the story. Branched, isn't it?) And I _am_ surprised he's 'In-Character'. Seriously, since I have NEVER played Crisis Core. I don't own a PSP, unfortunately, so I'm pretty much playing Zack's personality on the cuff and on what I remember from both the original FFVII and AC.

--- --- ---

**Random Moogle:** Leviathan is over for now, kupo! Review if you want; plot juiciness comes next! And that's a promise, kupo!


	6. Chapter VI

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter VI**

Basch sighed in contentment, filled up from the lavish dinner the Marquis provided for the night. Everyone had finished their meals, all satisfied with the quality and quantity, and took the moments afterward to talk while the plates were being cleared off the table. Vaan, Penelo, and Zack conversed among each other, swapping stories of youth and childhood and observing the differences between Gaia and Ivalice. Balthier and Fran had the Goddess Magicite out and were inspecting it yet again for anything interesting it could do. Naturally, Ashe did not appreciate watching the sky pirates mull over a treasure which used to belong within the palace of Rabanastre and scowled at them throughout the entire time. Basch watched the affair without saying much.

Balthier glanced at the princess briefly and smirked. "Is something troubling you, princess?" There was a wry tone of sarcasm laced in his words, ones which Basch could detect easily. On the other end of the table, Ashe frowned forthright at the sky pirate.

"The thought of you holding the Goddess Magicite, that is what is troubling me." She snapped at him. "That magicite was a gift to Dalmasca years ago, made to watch over her through the graces of the gods. It was a gift from..." She grew quiet and glanced down at the table, her mood changing from righteous to somber. "A gift from the kingdom of Nalbina."

"Oh." Balthier glanced at the orange magicite again, then back to Ashe. "A wedding gift, I assume?"

That statement earned a piercing glare from Ashe, giving as much an answer as a glare could give. Balthier regarded the glare passively, unfazed by the slightest. Instead, he returned his attention to the Goddess Magicite with a curious look upon his face. "I wonder what caused it to glow on the _Dreadnought Leviathan_…magicite always find uses for themselves. Obviously, this did not cause the gods to watch over Dalmasca-"

Ashe's glare intensified ten-fold at the sky pirate. "It is still rightfully Royal Dalmasca property, not yours."

"I beg to differ, actually. It was Vaan who found it within the palace, and with the notion of property strained as it is, he was the owner of this magicite for the time being. He offered it to me in exchange for services, which I readily accepted. If you wanted to get this back, perhaps you should have asked Vaan about it while traversing the Garamsythe Waterway before the deal was made. He might have been easier to barter with, at least." Balthier kept calm throughout his whole speech, and afterwards offered a small smile to the furious princess. "I, however, am more difficult to sway."

There was a stiff silence as Ashe continued to glare at Balthier, who returned the glare with a passive expression. Basch could feel the tension mounting between the two, and wondered how long it would be until Ashe took no more. It didn't look like it would take very long…

"…What does magicite do, anyway? Is it valuable?" Zack broke the silence, thankfully, and was gazing at the Goddess Magicite with some form of curiosity. Apparently, the conversation he was having with the younger members of the table had been interrupted by Ashe and Balthier's verbal spar. "I hear everyone talking about it like it's the biggest thing since sliced bread."

"Sliced bread?" Vaan asked, glancing at Zack in confusion. Basch blinked at the young warrior as well, confused by the statement, but Zack merely waved it off.

"It's a saying back at Gaia. It's like saying magicite is the biggest thing to talk about. Revolutionary, you know?" The young warrior kicked back in his seat at the table. "What I want to know is why it's such a big deal."

"Magicite is the source of all magick within Ivalice." Basch replied. "It is because of the magicite that people can live the way they do."

Zack scratched the back of his head. "Magicite is what gets everything working in Ivalice? Haven't any of you heard of electricity? I'd think magic would be too weird and unpredictable to work with…"

"Electricity has been outdated for a few centuries, Zack." Balthier noted simply. "Magicite was easy to harness, and so most electricity outlets became obsolete very quickly. Magicite stones eventually became the main source of power in all of Ivalice. That is why the Goddess Magicite is so 'valuable'. Nobody knows what it can do, but a stone of this size must mean it has some purpose."

Vaan coughed loudly, grabbing everyone's attention for a brief moment. "You know that all it did was glow on the deck of the _Dreadnought Leviathan_, right? I don't think it does anything really interesting besides that…"

"Well, that is your opinion Vaan." Balthier responded smartly. "Never judge anything by appearance; otherwise you may be surprised by what you find." The sky pirate's eyes twinkled, as though he were sharing in some private joke only he knew the punch line to. Basch didn't like the look, but had to wonder why Balthier would even mention such a thing in the first place.

"It was said that the Goddess Magicite was a gift from a goddess to a king of Nalbina centuries ago." Fran said softly, taking the magicite from Balthier very carefully. The Viera turned the magicite in her dainty hands, holding it up to the light. "Its value stems from that legend."

"Yes." Ashe, surprisingly, had spoken. She gazed at the magicite and sighed softly. "A story was engraved in the vessel the magicite came in, supposedly recited by the King of Nalbina all those years ago after meeting with the fabled goddess. However, I cannot remember all of it." She took a breath, and afterwards spoke reverently. "_Infinite in mystery is the gift of the goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky…_" She grew silent, indicating that was all she could recall.

"_Ripples_ _form on the water's surface_._ The wandering soul knows no rest_."

Ashe looked sharply to her left in surprise, staring at Zack with an alarmed expression. Basch stared, and from his viewpoint, he saw Vaan's jaw drop. Balthier and Fran both glanced at Zack, slight surprise visible on their faces. Penelo simply blinked.

"That…it was the finishing lines to the verse…" Ashe stared at the warrior, eyes wide in shock. "How did you know?"

Zack was clearly perturbed by the revelation as well, just as surprised as Ashe was. "I don't know; it sort of popped in my head after you said that line." He scratched the back of his head and blinked, visibly puzzled. "I've heard that from somewhere before. But…I can't remember."

"Hm…it's not often that tales of yore are spoken by amnesia-ridden warriors." Balthier noted lightly, fixing Zack with a steady gaze. The sky pirate sounded intrigued, and his eyes flicked to the magicite held by his Viera associate. "Fran, what do you suppose this means?"

The Viera kept her gaze on Zack, her earlier surprise gone in exchange for something serious and probing. Slowly, Fran stood from her seat and walked to Zack, offering the magicite to him. "Hold this." She said shortly.

Zack reached out, taking the magicite from the Viera's hold. As soon as Fran let the stone go, a brilliant glow erupted from it, casting a warm orange light over the entire dining room. Hues of twilight danced along the walls, lighting up the room in a magnificent display of colors. The glow was five times that of what happened on the _Dreadnought Leviathan_, making the miniscule glow Vaan created look like a dying ember compared to the brilliant light Zack produced.

"Whoa…" Zack stared at the magicite as well, eyes wide in surprise. "That's...interesting."

"I'll say." Basch muttered under his breath. Right when he thought he had figured the young warrior out, something like this happened. Zack really was more of an enigma than Basch gave him credit for. His mysterious appearance, his original home, and even what little he knew, all were completely baffling. If only the young man could remember more than what little he did now…

Zack handed the magicite back to Fran, the light dying from the magicite as he let the stone go. Fran nodded once, gazing at first the Goddess Magicite then at Zack. "I see. You have a kinship with the Mist, Zack." The Viera shifted weight to her left heel, leaning slightly to the left as she gazed down at the young warrior with a mysterious expression on her face. "Did you hear it too?"

Basch grew confused. What did Fran mean by 'hear it too'? He had heard nothing throughout the time Zack held the Goddess Magicite, other than the awed statement from Zack himself.

"…No." Zack shook his head, completely bewildered by now. "You aren't hearing voices, are you? I heard from someone that it's the first sign of psychological problems-"

Fran sighed, a hint of frustration in her tone as she walked back to Balthier, resuming her bit on ignoring the young warrior. She handed over the Goddess Magicite to the sky pirate, murmuring something to him that Basch didn't catch. On the other end of the table, Zack appeared to be dreadfully confused yet again. "Okay then."

In only a few moments afterward did the two sky pirates leave, claiming to be tired and heading off to bed. It was indeed late, and Basch felt fatigued by the long day as well. He bid the others a good night and headed off to bed, his mind buzzing over the events he witnessed that night.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Dreams were always fickle. They were either good or bad and never had any indication to which one could occur the next time someone shut their eyes. Zack, having experienced a particularly bad nightmare the last time he fell asleep, wasn't so keen on returning to dreamland after dinner. He paced around his provided room, looked at tapestries mounted on the walls, and even sat down to carefully polish the Buster Sword's smudged blade. All of these activities were all supposed to keep him from nodding off, but somewhere between polishing the Buster Sword and reading up on Arcadian history did Zack finally shut his tired eyes.

It was only supposed to be for a few minutes anyway, he couldn't fall asleep in that time, could he?

Somewhere after thinking that, Zack's mind grew blissfully blank. He opened his eyes slowly, to see he wasn't in the guest room in the Marquis' mansion. Instead, he was sitting inside some sort of crumbling building, with fallen pillars and old wood that somehow kept the foundation together. Looking down, Zack saw he was sitting in a patch of flowers, growing from a hole in the floor of the building. Above him, Zack could see daylight pour in from a large hole in the ceiling, warming the air around him.

It felt…nice. There came the faint feeling of familiarity, but comfort as well. It was like nothing wrong in the world could happen in this old building-_church_-since it was filled with so much serenity and peace. If anything, Zack was tempted to lie back and sleep in the flowers on the ground.

But something told him not to. The flowers were important. They were special, since flowers never grew in Midgar-_except here_-_…_

Nothing told Zack he was in Midgar; somehow he knew. Where in Midgar wasn't important. It was just important that such a place existed, and he knew it with startling clarity that _this place exists in Midgar_. And the flowers, they were grown by someone very special. Nobody could grow flowers in the dead soil of Midgar anyway-_except her_-…

Movement sounded from the broken doors leading outside of the church. A figure stood in it, but the intensely bright white light coming from outside made the figure hard to see. All Zack could properly discern was pink and brown standing in the doorway. From the figure came a soft giggle, the sound flying light as vapor across the air. It was beautiful, melodious, and strangely familiar to Zack. He wanted nothing more that to stand up and get closer to see who it was.

Quickly, Zack stood from the flowerbed and stepped onto the old wood flooring, going down the aisle between the worn pews of the church towards the figure. He got closer and closer, excitement bubbling inside his chest as the figure became sharper to see. His eyes, somehow, started to burn as he stared at the figure, who was still enveloped in the white light, and blinked to get rid of the glare in his eyes-

When he opened his eyes, he was staring at a very intricately woven rug. Orange light poured onto his face from an open window nearby. Sitting up, Zack looked around in shock. He was so close! Where was he?!

The answer hit him quick enough. He was sitting on the floor in the guest room the Marquis provided him. Most likely, he had fallen asleep while reading and fell forward onto the rug after passing out. In his lap was an old book, with green leather binding reading 'Arcadian Histories Part VII' on the cover. Tiredly, Zack chucked it across the room, a small disappointed frown on his face.

The dream…it wasn't bad like the other one, but it made him want to go back to Midgar all the more. Now he wasn't driven by a sense of urgency, but a sense of need instead. The figure in his dream was massively important to him, but…he didn't get to see _her_ before waking up. A childish part of him felt like he was cheated from seeing something vital, but he couldn't do anything about it. If he just didn't wake up at that moment…

With a sigh, Zack popped his joints to loosen up; stiff from sleeping on the floor all night. Outside it looked like the sun was barely rising over the cloud-lined horizon, which gave him ample opportunity to clean up and get ready for the day.

It didn't take very long for most of his normal morning routine to get done. Surprisingly, the Marquis did have some sort of room for showers, modeled like a huge tiled room filled with a fine spray of magical warm water, which Zack later found out to be caused by both fire and water magicite. Zack had expected something less from a society that had a medieval feel to it, but apparently hygiene was extremely important to the Marquis. There were plenty of towels, weird colored soaps (some of which Zack wasn't sure about, they _smelled_ a little more fragrant than he liked) and other items provided for keeping up appearances.

What surprised Zack more was that after he was finished, clad in nothing but a fine bathrobe (again provided to him), he returned to his room to find all of his clothes cleaned and pressed, sitting on his bed waiting for him. The room itself was tidy, as though housekeeping popped in while he was gone.

The service at the mansion was something Zack seriously thought he could get used to. He quickly got dressed, and found his clothes even had some of the fabric fixed where he was attacked back on the _Dreadnought Leviathan_. Small stitches gave testament to where the fabric was cut, but was so faint Zack actually had to squint to notice. Adding another plus point to his already growing list of 'Why living in a palace is awesome', he readied himself for the final part of his morning ritual, something that he hadn't done in a _really _long time.

Zack had to focus; it was all about focus. Reaching deep down inside and pulling out the willpower to blast through his task was the biggest thing now. Even possibly hundreds of miles away from Shinra he always found time to do this. More or less, it was a habit he never dropped simply because it was always something he found time to do. Now, if he could just beat his top score…

"One, two, three, four-"

The sound of his door opening reached his ears, the sound of someone walking in cautiously following it. "Zack, what're you doing?"

Zack didn't miss a beat, focusing completely on his task. "Squats. Haven't done any for a while; have to stay sharp! Nine, ten, eleven, twelve…"

"You look stupid." The voice came again, sounding flat and unimpressed.

Snorting back a laugh, Zack opted for grinning widely instead. "And your abs look painted on, Vaan."

"Hey!" Vaan yelped indignantly. "They are _not_ painted on!"

Zack didn't look at the thief, but he imagined a scowl printed on Vaan's face. He grinned wider, if it were possible. "See? It isn't nice to put someone down, is it? Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one…"

"Whatever. You _still_ look stupid." Vaan sniffed haughtily. "…Anyway, I came to ask if you wanted to come along with us."

"With you and Penelo?" Zack asked. He kept his speed consistent with his exercise, but turned his head to look at Vaan. Apparently, Vaan _was_ looking at him oddly, but this time Zack didn't care. "I don't think so, if you're going back to that 'Rabanastre' place-"

Vaan shook his head, "No, we aren't heading back there. Haven't you heard? Ashe talked Balthier into taking her to the Tomb of Raithwall to get the Dawn Shard, so all of us are going soon. Basch told me to ask, since he said the tomb would be somewhere close to the unmapped regions of Ivalice. I don't know why you'd want to know something like _that_, though…"

Zack stopped after his thirtieth squat and stood straight, ceasing sooner than he intended. This conversation was officially more important now. "Close to unmapped regions..?" For some reason, that seemed really coincidental to Zack. First everyone was deciding to go off on their own thing, and now suddenly everyone was gung-ho about going to a singular location together?

He crossed his arms, fixing Vaan with a small, wry, smirk. "How'd she convince Balthier to take her there? I thought he was finished hanging around with us."

"She promised him all the other treasure in the tomb." Vaan replied with a shrug. "Considering nobody ever came back from the tomb with plundered treasure, Balthier should be set for life."

"Hm." Zack turned the thought over and over in his head, mulling over his options. By _really_ dumb luck, he now was able to go near an unmapped area of Ivalice, probably in exchange for fighting monsters along the way. On the other hand, he could stay in Bhujerba and find his own way around Ivalice by himself. From prior experience, Zack had the innate feeling that if he went along with the others, more really weird things could happen.

Then again, it was a _really_ weird thing that took him to Ivalice in the first place.

He sighed, deciding in a split instant. "When're we leaving?"

"As soon as I go back to the _Strahl_, we're leaving. Come on; we have to go before the Marquis notices anything." With that, Vaan walked at a casual pace down the hall. Snatching and sheathing his Buster Sword up first, Zack followed him, being sure to keep as much of a casual demeanor as Vaan did.

"Any reason _why _we're sneaking out without telling the Marquis 'so long'?" He asked, keeping a casual tone. Vaan shot him a look, as did a curious worker nearby. Zack shrugged, "I'm just asking. He _did_ give us a nice setup for breaking Ashe out of that gigantic airship. Saying goodbye would be a decent thing to do, right?"

"Yeah, but Ondore doesn't want Ashe leaving to find the shard thing. So, we're kind of taking her with us." Vaan turned a corner, heading outside into the fresh dewy morning. Zack kept a good pace behind him as they headed towards the huge hangar outside of the mansion.

"Oh…that explains the secrecy…" Zack blinked, realizing he probably jeopardized their escape already by being loud as they made their way through the palace earlier. He picked up the pace, bypassing Vaan by a full stride. "Better hurry up, I don't think this'll stay secret now."

Rounding into the hangar, Zack saw Balthier and Fran standing on the ramp of the _Strahl_, seemingly waiting for them. He waved and called out, "We need to go _now_! I think-"

"They're coming!" Vaan raced past him, dashing all the way to the airship and ran inside, past the two bewildered sky pirates. Zack sighed and hurried after him, entering the _Strahl_ shortly after Balthier and Fran. The ramp already rose by the time shouts came from outside, sounding like the Bhujerban guards had just arrived. As soon as the ramp was shut, Zack felt the airship shudder and lift both quickly and abruptly, nearly sending him sprawling to the ground. Outside, the engines whirled loudly, drowning out the shouts Zack heard earlier.

Balthier's voice came from the cockpit. "Hold on to something!"

"What-?"

_VSHOOOOM!_

The _Strahl_ lurched forward sickeningly fast, and Zack became happily acquainted with the floor. Well, not happily. It was more of a painful crash followed by being thrown back on the wall afterwards. SOLDIER or not, Zack _wasn't _ready for that. "Ow…" Sitting up from the wall, Zack rubbed the back of his head, which was throbbing from being slammed around.

A chuckle came from the cockpit, "I thought I said to hold onto something, Zack. Are you a little slow on the uptake?"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

At the edge of the Dalmasca Westersand was a quaint little stop, the gateway between Dalmasca and the massive Sandsea to the west. Travelers often came to this particular spot, intent on crossing the treacherous desert only to turn around and come back…or not come back at all. With the harsh desert conditions, the flurries of dirt and dust, the lack of water sources, and the tribes of Urutan that populated the Sandseas, traveling through never was a smart thing to do.

"_But, the world wasn't filled with particularly smart people to begin with_,_"_ Jerome thought.

His associate was shelling out various supplies to a particularly large group that had just arrived via airship, an anchor planted nearby to testify for it. The group itself was supremely strange, since all of them varied so differently. Jerome had never seen a Viera so close, nor in the company of Humes before, which was a new thing for him to witness. Just as well, a strange male Hume accompanied the group and was almost as much of an attention grabber as the Viera.

The group, after purchasing their items, passed along their new possessions to each other while examining small bits of parchment they had on their person. Jerome knew they were checking their license cards, possibly to make sure their items could be used. The only one that hadn't was the strange Hume, who simply snapped the bangle he obtained around his wrist without even consulting his own license card.

One of the Hume's associates noticed. "Did you already have a license for that?" She asked curiously.

"A what?" The man blinked at the young woman, an uncomprehending expression on his face. The girl sighed softly and passed him her license card, which Jerome noticed to be amazingly empty for someone attempting to cross the Sandseas. Only a few boxes were filled in! How could anyone hope to take on Urutan with such a pitiful set of licenses?

The black haired man turned the card over in his hand, squinting at the parchment in complete bafflement. "Whaaatt…?"

"It's a license card. We need licenses to use certain equipment and magicks; otherwise we can't use them at all." The young woman tilted her head, gazing at the man curiously. "Don't you have one, Zack?"

"No." The man said, quickly surprising Jerome as well as the girl. He _didn't_ have a license sheet? "I just grab what I need and equip it. It works fine for me."

Jerome stared at the man, and couldn't help but pipe up in total curiosity. "You mean you just grab what you find, and…use it? Without any licenses at all?"

The man turned to look at him and nodded. Jerome immediately noticed an odd glow to his blue eyes, something that just didn't seem very natural at all. Suddenly, the man not having a license sheet was beginning to make sense. "Yeah. It's like this bangle. I'm using Sense on you and it works fine for me." The man said, showing off the bangle on his wrist. It glowed softly, indicating it was working, but…

Jerome blinked at the man, with a blank expression on his face. He had to think for a moment to process what the man said. "Sense? Don't you mean Libra?" Jerome asked, feeling puzzled about the use of the word 'Sense'.

"Huh?" The man now looked confused. "No, I mean Sense. It helps me figure out my opponent's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, stuff like that."

"Libra." Jerome replied shortly. "That's Libra."

"Nooo, it's Sense." The man replied, sounding _completely_ sure of himself. "See, Sense is telling me you're a level twenty-five-"

Jerome frowned and started up, his eyebrows knitting together in frustration. This guy was really starting to bug him! "No you daft idiot! It's Libra!"

"Hey! No need to get all upset over it!" The man replied, raising his hands in a placating way. Jerome scowled, but slowly calmed down. The man might have been annoying, but that was no reason to get angry over nothing. He decided the heat must have been getting to him and sighed, returning to his other spot to sit in the shade. It was too hot to fight anyway.

"Still say it's Sense, though."

A fiercer glare couldn't have left Jerome fast enough. He made to march over to the obstinate man to put him in his place-

"Stop!" The young woman jumped in front of the man before Jerome could even reach him. Naturally, he scowled down at her, almost daring her to make an excuse why. If the need be it, he'd chuck her aside to put some sense into the airhead behind her. The girl seemed to notice this and cleared her voice a little timidly. "He isn't from anywhere near here, and I'm sorry he's upset you." She turned around swiftly and glared at the man, which Jerome could see completely. "Zack?"

The man, Zack, faltered for a moment, then sighed and smiled ruefully. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm really new around here and I have to remember I'm not at home anymore. Bygones?"

The man's saccharine smile made Jerome want to throw up. It was so…_friendly_. Nothing in the world would have such a sincere smile without something ulterior in the works. However, the girl in front of him wouldn't move to the side, and Jerome figured he would've had to push her aside anyway.

Again, a little voice in the back of his mind noted that he was probably overreacting again. He was still steaming out in the sun, and with it rapidly approaching noon, Jerome knew he was going to lose it if he stayed in the heat. With a grumble, he stalked back to his shady spot and sat down again, sighing softly. He could _feel_ the temperature difference. Taking his canteen, Jerome splashed a bit of cool water on his face and sighed yet again in relief. "Much better…"

Briefly, Jerome glanced back towards the middle of the clearing. The strange group still hadn't left yet. Jerome wished they would; he was already in a bad mood from that Libra conversation, and cooling down only did so much to take the edge off of his rational anger. Unfortunately, the group was talking loud enough for Jerome to hear exactly what they were saying, and their talk was giving him a massive headache.

"So we're crossing that desert on foot?"

"Yes, since the tomb is located in Jagd territory the only option is to walk. Airships don't fly in Jagd because all of the magickal energies in Jagd regions disrupt the way an airship flies."

Tomb? They were going out into the Sandseas to search for the Tomb of Raithwall? _That_ was an incredibly stupid task. Many before the group of jokers had come and failed, either found half-dead in the Nam-Yensa or not found at all. Rumor had it that some vicious beast kept guard in front of the tomb, and the survivors who returned from the Sandseas only remembered that the beast glowed a holy shine and screeched holy wrath as well, and nothing they did could defeat it. That story alone usually staved off any prospective treasure hunters.

Apparently, these people hadn't heard of the beast. Or they were too stubborn to worry about it. As it was, they were _still_ talking amongst each other.

"And we're _walking_ through a desert, why? We can just go round up some chocobos and cross, can't we?"

"There aren't any chocobos around here that will take us. As it is, we don't have any Gryshal greens to placate one if we _do_ find one."

"You know that we can just kill a bunch of monsters around it and it'll let us ride for free, right? Well, if it doesn't run off first…"

"Chocobos do not offer such charity in Ivalice, Zack."

"How do you know? Have you ever _tried_ before?"

"Zack, just drop it."

"Anyway! The Sandseas are rough terrain. It is both incredibly hot and vacant of water. Conserve as much water as possible until we reach the midpoint between the Ogrir-Yensa and Nam-Yensa Sandseas. Understand?"

There were a few mismatched nods. Jerome sighed in relief; it sounded and looked like they were finally leaving. Indeed, one of the younger men of the group carried a knapsack filled with canteens of water, purchased from another vendor nearby. The others were milling around the entrance to the Ogrir-Yensa, readying themselves for the long journey.

"So it's nothing but sand and desert after this…" The young blonde haired man said, looking over the dune that led down into the valley of the Ogrir-Yensa Sandsea.

Oh dear Ultima; why wouldn't those kids _shut up_ and leave?

"Yeah. You know, I heard that some people never come back from the Sandseas. Nobody knows if they died out there or made it to Rozarria. It's a little scary knowing that; what if we get lost?" The blonde girl, the one who stuck up for the insufferable 'Zack', said softly. "Balthier did say that there wouldn't be any water until the midpoint between the Sandseas. If we get lost during the trek…"

Jerome hoped they would get lost now.

"Don't worry Penelo; we have enough water to last us for ages. And if we do get lost, all we have to do is keep heading west. That's where the Nam-Yensa is."

"I hope you're right…"

"Plus, you have me. I've gotten pretty strong, right?"

"I don't think level twenty-two is very strong." A giggle came, grinding again on Jerome's ears. He twitched as his head throbbed.

"Better than twenty."

"Worse than fifty." Another giggle.

"Not _all_ of us can be insane." The sarcasm laced in the boy's voice added onto the compounding headache.

"I bet we could be that strong someday, Vaan. I mean, if we travel around enough we could be stronger and wiser about the world more than anyone else in Rabanastre. Right?"

"Except for old Dalan."

A third giggle came. "Yes, except for old Dalan. Whatever you say, Vaan…"

And finally, to Jerome's everlasting relief, the two headed over the small hilly dune and down into the valley beyond, with the other people of their group following shortly afterwards. They still were talking about inane subjects, most of which Jerome tuned out until the chatter became distant and unintelligible. With a tired sigh, Jerome decided he was going to leave soon as well, but towards Rabanastre. He was sorely missing the cool salty breeze of Balfoheim Port and wanted nothing more than return there. Perhaps all of the Gil he and his associated collected here would pay for an airship back.

Best of all, it was probably the furthest away from that infuriating group he could get. With luck, he would never meet such a frustrating group ever again.

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** And so, we have some plot devices, a slip of LOVELESS, and a mystery involving a little Magicite that Ghis surprisingly did not confiscate from Vaan earlier. What does that mean? It means Zack in Ivalice is having more effect than originally thought! Also, I discovered I had translation issues with the 'Dusk' shard (is in fact 'Dawn' as I originally thought, oops!)

**Random Moogle:** Kupo! And we aren't even to the Tomb of Raithwall yet! As well, thank you Samuramon, Drake G. Reaper, Yuleen75, and Loxetta for reviewing the previous chapter, kupo!

Replies to Reviews:

**Blue-Huntress**: Yes, yes he did. Basis on Zack's memory is where his dreams come from, which will play a vital part in his recovery of his life at Gaia, as well as the memories of the people he knew (which is completely vital).

**Damien The Prince of Darkness**: I've seen a few cutscenes of Crisis Core, courtesy of YouTube, as well as read up on MANY other 'good' fanfictions having Zack as the main character. Gleaning this knowledge is making me have a pretty good grasp of what he's like. As for the Goddess Magicite, Judge Ghis did originally take it in FFXII but here he didn't. Why? I think he had more pressing matters, like a SOLDIER tearing through his ship like it was tissue paper, ehehe…

**Bradley McCloud**: I never thought Final Fantasy should be entirely realistic (it DOES have 'Fantasy' in the title, after all) but I try to have a median feel of both realism and fantasy for it. And I've heard of X being before VII, and your timeline isn't far off the mark in my fiction. The true time between the games will be revealed in the Paramina Rift chapters later on, though…and no, you're not weird.

**SharperImage**: Most of Zack's _terrible_ nightmares will be central to his four years at the Shinra mansion in Nibelheim, so don't sweat it. I don't believe they were asleep for that whole time either, to be honest. As for Angeal, he was pretty important in Zack's life, and as such, I had to know a good bit about him to attempt this fiction in the first place. Your feeling with Basch is very good from my perspective; I was aiming for that. Muhahaha…And it's awesome that you recognized the Biggs and Wedge reference!

--- --- ---

**Sahxyel:** And so, this chapter isn't as long as my other ones but I'm tuckered from my graduation. Seriously. Sorry for the lateness of this, but I do hope you readers enjoy it!


	7. Chapter VII

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter VII**

Within deep caverns underneath the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, a sentient beast stirred. It sensed something unlike it had ever sensed before, like a strong magical impulse had come very close and was drawing even nearer with each step. Fuzzy ears twitched in irritation as the beast stood, drawing in a deep sniff through an old nose. The Mist didn't smell right. Was the great thunder Esper down in the caves upset?

Shakily, the beast rose to his paws and yawned, revealing sharp white teeth in his mouth. His pelt was furry and mostly crimson in coloration, but his age was getting to him. Grey hairs were quite dominant in his shaggy mane, the scraggly hairs held in place by a weathered old hairclip away from his old eyes. His tail wagged weakly, a small flame alighted at the very tip of it. Surprisingly, the flame did not bother the beast at all. Instead, he growled at the small flicker in annoyance, causing the flame to grow bigger.

"That is much better…" The beast said in an unusually cultured sort of voice, much like how high aristocrats spoke. Although a slight wheeze of age crept into his voice, it still sounded as eloquent as ever. Too bad he was a beast of few words to start with.

The beast stretched once more and strolled out of the small alcove he called home, entering a large and empty ante-chamber of the cave. To humans and Garif, the caves were dubbed the Zertinan Caverns, being one of the more dangerous places of Ivalice. Not the most, as the red beast knew, but it was fairly dangerous nonetheless. No travelers would go through the caverns, regardless if it was a shortcut to the Sandseas, Westersand, or the Ozmone Plain. With fierce monsters and one bad-tempered Esper roaming around, only a crazy person would willingly waltz right in.

Which is why it made the perfect home for an outcast such as himself. He was strong enough to defeat anything he faced in the caverns, and his home that he made was close enough to a water source. It was also well-hidden, in case anyone came looking for him in the deep caves such as these.

As he walked around the ante-chamber of his home, the red beast picked up a small bangle from a raggedy old woven basket and attached it to his forepaw with his teeth for his excursion. No doubt he would need to know what he was up against. These Mist-infested monsters were not something to be taken lightly, as he found out when battling the great thunder Esper. Careful planning didn't hurt, and a good Libra spell helped a lot in situations like those. With a sigh, the old beast left his sanctuary and entered the true portion of the Zertinan Caverns, named the 'Drybeam Cavern'.

He sniffed the air again, standing in front of his haven with a contemplative look upon his grizzled face. With a small growl, the red creature took off running, straight for the exit to the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea. Whatever the Mist-Creature was, he knew he had to see for himself what it really was. Beasts snarled at him as he raced by, but they were far too slow to catch him before he could exit the caverns. He burst out of the dim caverns and into blinding sunlight. The smell was remarkably strong now, prompting him to leap into the shade of some plants that grew near the entrance to the Zertinan Caverns, hidden away from sight. The sound of footsteps clomping through grainy sand reached his sensitive ears.

"-And that's why you don't eat Alraunes."

"So they're poisonous? Huh, they just looked like walking tomatoes to me…"

"I think Rogue Tomatoes are edible."

A group of humans approached the entrance of the caves, two of them obviously warriors or knights from some kingdom or another. The creature didn't care much for these conflicts between the provinces of Ivalice, but they were clearly armed for fighting. The others looked more like civilians, armed with laughable weapons that wouldn't harm even the weakest Ozmone Hare. The one lagging behind the others, however…he looked like neither a knight, nor a civilian. He was armed much like a knight, but he was dressed unusually for the hot desert climate, which told the beast he wasn't native to Dalmasca or Rozarria. He considered Archades, by the color of his wacky spiked hair, but even then that was stretching it.

The Mist was overpowering now, almost nauseating to the red beast. This Mist smelled differently than the Mist he was used to, and stunk like something oddly familiar as well. Not like Mist but…

"We went the wrong way again. This leads to the infamous Zertinan Caverns." A man said, frowning at the cavern entrance. His shiny armor glinted in the sunlight, nearly blinding the red beast hidden in the shrubbery nearby. "Basch, are you certain you know the way to the tomb?"

"I'm sure, Vossler." Another man said, frowning as well. The other knight, no doubt. "I'm just not familiar with this terrain…"

Taking another sniff, the red beast frowned. The source of the strong scent of Mist came from the couple of the group, comprising of one human and one Viera. The scent was archaic, strong, and _alive_. Whatever it was, it still had a scent he found oddly familiar. But he hadn't smelled anything like it since before his exile into Ivalice…Was it a Gaian smell?

"Well, I suppose we just need to go in another direction until we can find a blasted map in this heat." The human near the Viera said, clearly irritated for some reason the red beast did not know. "Everyone should stay alert for a holding urn."

The group turned and began walking away, allowing the red beast to slowly pace out of his hiding place. His nose trembled as the Mist scent already began moving away, but the thought of such strong magic with a group like that worried him. Idiots could never be trusted with such power, and idiots who walk around in the midday heat of the Sandseas were even worse. Said idiots also seemed to be heading for the Dynast-King's tomb, where they would more than likely reach their demise due to the holy Garuda-Egi.

With a snort, the red beast remembered the creature and what trouble it put him through. His limit usually would hurt it a little, but anything else he did could not damage the thing because it flew out of the way-

The sound of running footsteps reached the beast's ears, prompting him to jump back into his hiding place. Only seconds after he landed did the strange one of the group turn the corner and stand in front of the cavern entrance, a small frown on his face.

"What made that noise?" The man wondered aloud, making the red beast blink in surprise. The humans were too far away to have heard his tiny snort, how did he hear it, then? Maybe he snorted too loudly-

"Zack, wait up!" Another human, a young male with short blonde hair, ran over after a moment of silence. He looked exceedingly puzzled and slightly fatigued, possibly from the run. "What is it?"

"I don't know; I heard something snort over here…" The strange human said, cocking his head at the cavern entrance. He probably assumed the source of the noise ran in. "When we were over here, I heard something sniff too."

"I didn't hear anything." The blonde human said, frowning as he did so. "Are you sure it wasn't your imagination?"

"No. I'm definitely sure I heard something. SOLDIERS have heightened senses, remember?" The human, Zack, said. He peered into the darkness that was the Zertinan Caverns with a slight frown on his face. "Hmm…whatever it was probably ran in there."

SOLDIER…why did SOLDIER sound familiar to the old beast? He could have sworn he heard of such a thing before, warriors with heightened senses that called themselves that name. They wouldn't be of Ivalice stock, since enhancement technology on actual humans was thankfully low nowadays. Experimentation on humans, if he remembered right, hadn't been that advanced since…

"Come on; let's get going before everyone leaves us behind again." The young man began to walk off, the strange human following after him. A glint of light caught on something strapped to the strange human's back, nearly blinding the old beast again. Blinking rapidly, the beast's eyes fixed on the source of the glint-

His jaw dropped in astonishment. He shook his head and blinked several times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and watched the humans walk away. Slowly, he crept from his hiding place with a shocked expression printed clearly on his furry mug.

"That sword…it _couldn't_ be…"

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Zack was rapidly deciding he did not like deserts at all. The sand got everywhere, the sun was too hot, and the creatures that lived there wouldn't stop trying to pick a fight. A giant Sandsea also wasn't a feature that Zack liked much either, mostly because the sand looked too much like a cool ocean lapping against the tough gritty banks of stable dirt. It was a desert mirage at its finest, in Zack's opinion. At least Corel didn't do that to people…although trapping them inside with quicksand came pretty close to the ultimate sadism of the desert elements.

Right now, he fell back with Vaan, Balthier, and Fran as they traveled much slower than the main group of Basch, Ashe, Penelo, and Vossler. They were doing most of the fighting through the desert, at least at the moment.

"Are we there yet?" Vaan asked tiredly, wiping some sweat off his forehead. "We've been at this for hours."

"It feels like hours, but the sun is still high in the sky, Vaan." Balthier replied, gesturing up at the frustratingly clear sky above. "At most, I'd say we've been traveling for a half-hour, at most."

Zack sighed tiredly, "So I take it that we're nowhere close to the Nam-Yensa Sandsea?" It wasn't enough that they were lost in the Ogir-Yensa; they still had a whole other Sandsea to clear, and it wasn't even an hour into travel. He wished he snagged chocobos before starting this trek now. Ivalice differences or not; he would've gotten a free chocobo ride one way or another…

"You'd be safe in that assumption." Balthier said, "Unless the illustrious Captain recalls how to travel to the tomb, we may as well be at this all day."

Ahead, Zack saw that the main group had just stopped on top of a sandy dune, looking at something to the south. "What're they looking at?"

"Hm?" Vaan looked to the group, and then to the south as well. He stopped and gaped, "What is _that_?"

Zack looked in the general direction Vaan was, and saw a huge wolf-like beast standing on a sandy dune a small distance away. It was easily twice the size of a normal red wolf that Zack had seen in the Dalmasca Estersand, meaning that it was either a small version of an Alpha or it was a new species of wolf that was somehow twice the size of normal ones. What was worse was that it was looking straight at them, which meant it was either going to ignore them if it wasn't hostile, or run over and attack the closest person it could get to.

The sound of flipping pages made Zack briefly glance at Vaan, who for some incredible reason took his Clan Primer out of his small satchel and flipped through it hastily. "I don't see it anywhere in the main beast section; it might be a rare game." He said, placing the Primer back in his bag. Zack rolled his eyes and looked back at the creature, which still stood on the dune motionlessly.

"What's that it has in its mouth?" Fran wondered aloud, taking a step forward. Zack briefly wondered what she meant by the question, but he saw that the beast did have something in its mouth that flapped in the hot breeze of the desert air. It looked like…paper?

"It's a map!" Balthier started forward, but the beast took a distinctive step backwards. Before anyone could do or say anything else, it turned tail and ran down the sandy dune in a cloud of dust.

"Follow it!" Basch called out from the front group, racing off after the creature. Zack didn't need to be told twice; if that thing had a map that could help them get the heck _out_ of the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, he was more than happy to chase it down. Running as fast as he could, and easily outstripping the others as they ran, Zack sped up and over the dune in a cloud of dust, following the dust cloud that was the red beast. Ahead, Zack saw it run up a ramp leading onto a giant metallic oil rig, keeping its pace like some sort of lazy romp.

It didn't take too long for Zack to catch up to the thing, which had stopped at the top of the oil rig. Its eyes were focused on him, its tail swishing around strangely, much like how a cat's tail would move. At the tip of the tail, Zack spied a small fire burning, and several bangles were clasped around all four of its legs. Its mane was shaggy and long, predominantly grey with a deep red poking out here and there. A large hairclip featuring a crescent moon kept the scraggliest hairs from falling into the creature's weirdly intelligent-looking eyes.

The beast sat the map down in front of it, keeping one paw firmly on it so it wouldn't blow away in the wind. On its shoulder, Zack saw it had peculiar tattoos of midnight black inscribed in the red fur, featuring several intricately designed lines and _XVII_ right underneath it. Zack began to reach over his shoulder…but stopped as he grabbed the hilt of the Buster Sword. He couldn't say why, but killing the creature for the map just seemed…well…wrong. It looked at him with a strange expression as he gripped the sword, as though it was saddened by what he was going to do. The puppy-dog eyes it was giving him didn't help, either.

With a sigh, Zack let the hilt go and allowed his arm to fall to his side. If he couldn't kill it, what other option was there? He guessed, since it was dog-like, that maybe it would let him take the map if he didn't do anything to alert it. In that case, he had to get close in order to snatch the map away from it…

Slowly, Zack crept closer to the creature, unsure whether or not it would bolt if he got too close. He didn't want it to get spooked; if it did, it might take the map with…or the map would be left behind if it fled and would catch in the hot breeze. Either way, if he didn't get close enough, the map would be lost. "Okay weird wolf-lion thing, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just need that map…so we won't run around this dumb desert all day. Not going to hurt you…" He kept his voice low and calm, focusing more on the map than the creature.

Taking a glance at the beast, Zack noticed that a twinkle appeared in its eyes…as though it thought what he was doing was _funny_. Its jowls pulled back into a toothy grin, revealing white and sharp teeth in its mouth, its strange fiery tail wagging oddly simultaneously. It continued to stare, even as Zack drew closer and closer to it-

"There it is!"

"No!" Zack jumped…a second too late, missing the creature by a full foot as it jumped back and away from the source of the noise. Although Zack heard gunshots and the sound of arrows whizzing overhead, a rustle of paper and the clomping of soft paws running reached his ears. Blearily, he looked up to see that the beast had taken the map and sped off, dodging each arrow and bullet that came its way until it was completely out of range.

A sigh came from behind him, "Missed."

"What're you doing down there, Zack?" That was Penelo, with a little laugh penetrating her voice. Slowly, Zack stood from the hot metallic floor and brushed the sand off him, sighing as he did so.

"I ALMOST had him…" He turned, "Thanks guys; now we're gonna be chasing him all day."

"Why didn't you just kill that beast?" Vossler asked impatiently, with Ashe nodding in agreement with him. "All would have been said and done, and we would be one map richer in this desolate desert."

Zack shrugged helplessly, "Well, it looked really smart, like it understood what I wanted-"

"If we followed your bleeding heart, we wouldn't kill even the most bloodthirsty of the Urutan, just because they are minimally 'intelligent'." Vossler replied harshly. Zack frowned; he didn't really like Vossler's attitude. He didn't know why either; it was just something about him that seemed oddly off. The guy he met on the _Leviathan_ seemed more relaxed than the uptight guy who was traveling through the Sandseas with them. Zack wondered why that was…same guy, rapidly different takes on things?

"Let's continue. Perhaps we can reencounter the beast later." Basch said evenly, "Now is not a time to get a hot head, Vossler."

"…I apologize…this heat is just intolerable." Vossler sighed. He wearily started forward, with Ashe following him as well as Penelo. Basch nodded once to Zack, then also headed off with the front group. As Zack watched them head onward, he wondered if the heat really was setting Vossler off. It made sense, Zack guessed, since Vossler was the heaviest dressed there, save for him. Where black cloth was thick and hot, at least it could breathe. Zack wasn't so certain a whole front of sun-soaking metallic armor would be comfortable clothing to travel through two deserts…three, if Vossler _walked_ from the Aerodome back at Rabanastre.

Eh, maybe he was just looking too much into it.

Lazily, Zack followed behind the rear group, content to let his mind wander until they could find the map-wielding wolf-lion again. Luckily, it didn't seem to take long to spot the creature on the oil rig in the far distance, seemingly _waiting_ for them. Either the wolf-lion was stupid for waiting for them to catch up, or it was purposefully _making_ them chase it through the oil-rig infested desert.

Zack started leaning towards the latter option after it led them off an oil rig and to a huge rocky outcrop. There was a path leading into the outcrop, which the red beast casually trotted into, its tail swishing behind it. It suspiciously looked too much like an exit from the Sandsea…but, why would the beast lead them there? Did it know they were lost?

"Is this the exit?" Apparently, Zack wasn't the only one thinking that. Vaan was staring at the rocky outcropping confusedly. "That _thing_ led us to the Nam-Yensa?"

"Maybe Zack was right about it being intelligent…" Balthier murmured, frowning slightly in thought. Zack inflated with a bit of pride; it was good to know he could be right about these things-

"Intelligent enough to lead us to a trap, perhaps." Fran said, smashing Zack's pride almost unmercifully. "It is a carnivore, a pack could be ahead to devour witless wanderers of the desert foolish enough to follow it."

_That_ was a mood killer. The front group looked to each other, and unsheathed their weapons for a precaution. With a sigh, Zack shook his head. He was sure that the beast didn't mean any harm, but judging from how everyone else was acting he figured that arguing wouldn't help.

"We'll need a plan if it is an ambush." Ashe stated diplomatically, frowning slightly. "I don't want to be caught unawares."

"We can start off by some Protect magicks for starters, then…"

Zack didn't hear the rest, already sneaking away from the huge group and heading into the dark path in the cliff walls. He _knew_ the thing wouldn't hurt anyone, but if anyone ran in with shiny weapons blazing, it could take it the wrong was. Plus, if it was an ambush, Zack was sure he could take them on. If the lion-wolf was anything like the other things in the Sandsea, then he was golden.

As soon as he rounded the path, it opened to a strangely lush area covered with soft sand and green plants, with a bank of sand nearby that led to the Sandsea itself. A Moogle seemed to be in the area, talking with an Urutan who fled upon seeing him enter the area. Near the soft grass on the other end of the area was the red beast, lying down with its tail lazily swishing from side to side.

Ignoring the Moogle for now, Zack slowly approached the beast. It didn't move, even when he stood over it. It stared at him, eyes having a weird spark about them. Slowly, Zack leaned down to take the map, but the paw curled back, holding the map protectively and firmly.

"If you want this map, you'll need to do better than take it, young man. It's very rude to take things that are not yours."

Zack _stared_. The thing spoke. Although surprised, Zack was starting to get desensitized to creatures that could talk. If huge lizards, royal-cats, and bunny-women could be intelligent, why not a beast variety be smart too? By the _Planet_, Ivalice was _weird_.

"It is also very rude to stare." The red creature admonished sternly. Its voice sounded masculine and very cultured too. "I would appreciate some space, also."

"Sorry." Zack said automatically, taking a step back from the beast. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I didn't think you-"

"Could talk? Could formulate articulate sentences without sounding guttural or bestial? Had opinions of what manners are? Out with it, boy." The beast said.

"Uh…" Zack was at a loss for words. "All of the above?"

A snort came from the beast, sounding really familiar for some reason. "Tactful, I see. I assist you and your associates out of the Sandsea, and you have the gall to try and take my map. A 'please' would have been appreciated, at the very least." The creature gave him a curious look. "But I suppose I could allow you to take it…provided you answer a question of mine."

"A…question?" Zack was flabbergasted. This was beyond what he was expecting, and he only expected that the thing was smart like a dog. Not smart like a human, anyway… "Sure, I guess."

"How did you procure that interesting sword?" The red creature asked. His tail swished once, a small flare firing up on the tip. "It looks quite unique…a one-of-a-kind, so to say."

That was unexpected. Zack thought he was going to ask a harder question or something. This was way too easy! "Oh. I got it from someone."

"Although informative, that was incredibly vague at best." The red beast said blandly. "_Who_ gave that sword to you?"

"…" Zack searched his thoughts, but hit a wall. He _didn't_ remember who gave him the sword! There was a serious blank right when he needed the information the most, and it looked like the red beast was starting to get annoyed when he didn't answer right away. "Uh, well…" Zack searched his memories of his days at Gaia as best as he could, but only remembered one other fact about his sword. "I got it when I was in SOLDIER…from my mentor, I think." It sounded about right, he did remember someone had taught him in SOLDIER, and the Buster Sword used to belong to whoever it was.

…But, why did his mentor end up giving it to him? And why couldn't he remember anything beyond that sad little scrap of information?

"SOLDIER…" The beast echoed thoughtfully, his tail lashing left and right. "…Very well." With a flick of the red creature's paw, the map flew up into the air, prompting Zack to snatch it before it could flutter away. He was surprised to see, however, that the map _wasn't_ for the Ogir-Yensa Sandsea, but the Nam-Yensa instead.

The beast seemed to notice his confusion. "As I've led you through the Ogir, it is only fitting you have a map to assist the rest of your journey." A twinkle appeared in the beast's eyes. "But it will do you well to stay clear of the Tomb of Raithwall, unless you and your associates want to be decimated by the beast that guards it."

"What…? How did you know that we-?" Zack blinked at the beast, but it snorted again loudly.

"All in good time. But, I think I should save it in case we meet again. I have…places…to visit. Until then…SOLDIER." The beast growled, standing up on all fours. With a flick of the tail, the beast jumped up, bounding over the rocky outcropping and out of sight. Zack watched it go, still puzzled beyond belief. It sounded…did the red wolf-lion know what a SOLDIER was?

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Basch was having trouble deciding whether he should have been annoyed or relieved at the new turn of events. Although they all were at the ready for any sort of fight the red beast may have planned, they entered the small area to find Zack staring distantly at a high cliff of rocks nearby, with the map the beast had carried in his hand. Zack didn't have much to say on what had transpired; only noting that the map wasn't of the Ogir-Yensa but the Nam-Yensa instead. Anything else they tried asking about the beast led to vague mumblings and a curious expression on Zack's face.

They had spoken with the Moogle in the area, who witnessed what had happened, and it had told them that the red creature was indeed very intelligent, as it had spoken with Zack about something or the other. Whatever it was seemed to not catch the Moogle's attention, as it was more worried about the native Urutan-Yensa of the area rather than strange Hume and strange beast conversations. As far as information went, the Moogle wasn't very helpful.

Perhaps, in retrospect, they probably _should_ have listened to the Moogle about the Urutan problems.

As soon as they entered the Nam-Yensa, they found the strangest sight of several Urutan-Yensa grappling with a massive tortoise, and losing by the look of it. Tempting as it was to walk around the scuffle and avoid the confrontation with the beast; it somehow noticed them and charged, prompting them to make quick work of it just for the sake of not getting flattened by the massive shelled creature.

Unfortunately, after they had defeated the creature, the remaining Urutan of the immediate area decided to reward their saviors by attacking. Basch decided he really disliked Urutan for this reason.

Their travels through the Nam-Yensa were incredibly uneventful, as it was the same as the Ogir with the exception being that they now had a map, and therefore a general path they were taking. Urutan-Yensa populated the Nam more that Basch would have liked, but fighting through their small groups was easy enough with as many people as they had for a party, and soon found themselves across the Nam-Yensa in record time. The sun above seemed to be heading westward by now, not quite as high in the sky, as they headed for a sheer cliff. Supposedly, if the map had any say in the matter, the entrance to the tomb was somewhere around the general area…

"Hm?" Basch noticed two large yellow birds standing in the sand not too far ahead, with riders sitting on their colorfully decorated saddles. One of the riders was female, dressed in native Dalmascan attire, but the other was a bald man with very peculiar clothing that immediately suggested he wasn't of the Dalmascan area. The two seemed to have seen them walking, and were looking at their group with kind smiles.

"Well, travelers through the Nam-Yensa! And without chocobos, even! My, what a rare sight!" The bald man declared genially as they approached, the woman on the other chocobo nodding to his words. "I suppose you are looking for ancient treasures as well?"

"You could say that." Basch replied gruffly, not one to drop his guard around a suspiciously friendly face. He stopped, motioning for the others to stop too. "Have you seen any opening nearby, perhaps a cave of some sort?"

"Of course…but to be honest with you, we aren't very sure what's beyond the cave." The man said, frowning. "The chocobos get spooked whenever we draw close, and if a chocobo is afraid of something, chances are it isn't good."

Indeed, the yellow creatures did look slightly stressed, as they constantly twitched their wings or clicked their beaks now and then. The woman seemed to be trying to calm hers down by patting the creature's head gently.

"What could frighten a chocobo? No monsters grapple with them, as they are nasty little fighters when it gets right down to it…" The man on the chocobo frowned, giving his a pat on the head as well. "You'd best be careful entering that cave, who knows what's at the other end?"

"Dyce?" The woman on the other chocobo looked to the man, with a small smile on her face. "They must be fatigued from traveling through the Sandseas. Maybe you have something that could assist them? For a price, of course…"

"Well…" Dyce smirked slightly, unhooking a bag on the side of the chocobo, revealing several items and other assorted items. Basch regarded the two in surprise; what were the chances of finding a couple of entrepreneurs in the middle of a vast desert?

The others crowded around the chocobo to get a good look at the items the man, Dyce, was willing to sell. Balthier and Fran were gazing over some impressive guns and ammunition Dyce was selling, as Vaan and Penelo were more interested in some scrolls and magicite stones. Ashe and Zack were sorting through some potions and antidotes, apparently wanting to stock up on some helpful items. Basch pushed through the crowd to also get a good look at the items for sale. Dyce appeared to have a decent supply of long-range weapons, a fair stock of magicks, several potions and restorative items, and…

"What's this?" Basch snatched something out of the satchel to get a better look, and his eyes widened at the sight. "This…"

Dyce saw what he had grabbed and laughed. "That old thing? We picked that up in Balfonheim Port! The man who sold it to us said it would make a fine decorative item, but I say it was a waste of gil. It's for sale, but I don't know why anyone would want such a useless stone…"

Tempted to correct the man, Basch favored looking over the orb instead. It was slightly smaller than the red orb they had discovered in the Barheim Passage, and instead of being crimson the orb was a dark purple, with a lighter colored purple swirl in the center of it. "How much is it?"

"Oh, maybe a hundred gil, at the most." Dyce shrugged modestly. "It's a bargain, considering how much I spent for it."

Fishing the gil out of his pouch, Basch quickly paid the man for the materia before Zack could notice it. If only Dyce knew what the orbs really did, Basch knew the purple materia would have been more expensive than for what he spent on it. He pocketed it quickly, deciding to show it to Zack after they were out of earshot from the two chocobo merchants.

The others spent their gil on what they pleased. Fran and Balthier had purchased guns and shot, selling their old weapons in the process. Vaan cleared out the entire magick stock Dyce had on hand, with an empty gil pouch to prove it. Ashe had an armful of potions and antidotes, with Vossler assisting her in shoving the items into her own traveling bag. The only one who didn't appear to purchase anything was Zack, but Basch figured the materia he obtained would delight the young warrior anyway.

As soon as they finished up, Dyce laughed good-heartedly again. "Thank you all! And be careful up ahead! Treasures may be tempting, but don't get distracted!"

The woman who accompanied Dyce nodded once, "Any creature could take advantage of distracted treasure-seekers. Be very wary of fierce beasts and traps."

"We'll be sure to stay alert." Basch replied, then motioned for the assortment of his party to follow him to the massive and dark cave up ahead. The two on the chocobos watched them go, but did not move from their spot, even as they entered the dark tunnel ahead. The tunnel itself appeared to be long, but straight, as there was a bright light at the far end. Behind them, the entrance was fading to an equally bright light.

They traveled in silence through the tunnel's entirety, although Basch could detect a rising anxiety from his associates as they drew closer to the exit. The bright light of the sun from the outside was absolutely blinding, as they stepped out into the light.

"Whoa…"

Basch wanted to agree with whoever murmured the sentiment. The stood in front of the tunnel exit, which came out of a vertical cut of cliff. A huge courtyard of sorts greeted them with tall stone pillars aligned to create a pathway up to an imposing stairway; leading up to what Basch could only believe to be the fabled Tomb of Raithwall.

"It's so majestic…" Ashe stepped forward, gazing at the tomb in awe. "This…" She was at a loss of words, staring at the tomb with her eyes gleaming of emotions Basch could not even begin to fathom.

"This place is huge. Can you imagine how much treasure could be in that tomb?" Vaan wondered aloud, also staring. Penelo nodded in agreement with her friend, also gazing at the magnificent structure in awe. Basch took another look around the secluded tomb, where high cliff walls hid the tomb from sight of anyone who would search for it-

A loud groan came from Zack, snapping Basch's attention away from the awe-inspiring scenery. "You have to be kidding me! There's _no way_ out of this place?!" The young warrior snatched the map from Balthier before anyone could give him a feasible answer, taking a few steps forward to examine the map in the light of the sun. The map, as Basch knew, was accurate. And it showed no path that could be traveled further westward into the Nam-Yensa Sandsea.

"There _is_ a way." Balthier replied, snatching the map away from the baffled warrior. "If you're willing to climb up that sheer cliff and continue traveling through this forsaken Sandsea, then by all means, be our guest."

Zack sighed in frustration. "I can't believe this is a dead end." He seemed to be very sullen, not quite as joyous as the others were upon finding the mythical tomb. As the others slowly started forward to approach the tomb, Basch stayed behind with Zack to offer him one thing that probably would have made the entire trip worthwhile to him at least. Slipping the purple orb from his pocket, Basch held it up to Zack. The young warrior glanced up, at first sullen, then completely surprised.

"A materia! How did you get it?!" Zack snatched the purple orb out of his hold, looking over the shiny stone gleefully.

"The man back there had it in his bag for selling, and I happened to spy it." Basch replied. "I didn't tell you earlier, in case Dyce figured out how much it is worth to you."

"Wow…" Zack grinned, and with a fluid motion swung his sword over his shoulder, popping the purple orb into one of the holes in his blade. It fit snugly in the space, but nothing really seemed to happen afterwards. Basch grew confused; he had expected something a little more amazing to happen like how the red materia had reacted back at the Barheim Passage.

Zack noticed his confusion, "You thought something was going to happen, right?" Basch nodded, prompting Zack to shrug. "Sorry, but purple materia are usually supportive, so I'm probably not going to be summoning crazy stuff or setting anyone on fire with this one." Zack tapped the purple orb once, and smirked. "Now let's see what this one does…"

Before Basch could ask what Zack meant by that, a loud screech suddenly echoed in the quiet air. Quickly, Basch glanced around, alert for whatever made the noise. He found he wasn't the only one; further ahead, the others were also looking around for the source of the screech.

A bright shine emerged from the very top of the tomb, catching Basch's undivided attention. The bright light flew through the air erratically, pelting down until it was in front of the stairway leading to the entrance of the tomb. The light died down slowly, revealing a strange creature with membrane-like wings flying directly in front of them. Its head was streamlined, but its mouth was filled with sharp teeth, and its eyes were fierce and angry. An unusual glow seemed to come from the creature itself, and it gave another mighty shriek.

Basch reached for his sword, as the flying creature pumped its wings, propelling itself at them. It dived upon Vossler, pecking down at him fiercely as the man tried to set himself up with a Telekinesis attack, as his sword could not reach the flying monster above him. Basch looked at his sword, with a slight frown. There was no possible way he could damage the beast himself…

Ashe also looked like she had the same conundrum, but she still fiercely tried batting at the flying beast with her own sword. Basch ran to her side, to assist her before the beast decided to attack her instead-

"Fire!" A huge flame brushed past Basch as he stood next to Ashe, hitting the glowing creature straight in the face. It squawked indignantly, as though the magick attack did no damage to it at all and swooped for Penelo, who had cast the spell at the imposing creature. With Vaan too far away to protect her, Basch saw the young woman brace herself as the beast bore down.

In a furious flurry, the creature swooped down to attack several times, making Vaan start in surprise. "Penelo!! You lousy-BLIND!"

The magick swiftly made its way through the air, but missed the creature in its entirety. However, it seemed to notice that Vaan was trying to stop him and swooped around to attack him as well. Basch anticipated seeing an injured Penelo left in its wake, but was surprised by the sight he was met with. Penelo was still standing, but Zack appeared to have jumped in front of her at the last moment, taking the attacks instead. He seemed to be worse for wear, and his sword was absent of any sign that he attacked the creature. Basch held the feeling that he couldn't attack it either, as it probably constantly moved out of range from basic sword swipes…

Balthier and Fran joined the fray that Vaan had gotten himself into, the three of them focusing attacks on the flying monster. Bullets tore through the beast's membrane wings, while colorful magick constantly streamed from Vaan in an attempt to hinder the beast. Penelo had darted over as well to assist them after setting Zack with a restorative Cure spell.

Basch couldn't do anything but watch as the fierce battle raged on, as both he and Ashe were completely incapable of harming the flying beast. Vossler, after a decent amount of time, would send a vicious Telekinesis attack to annoy the monster. Zack would try to help as much as he could, but he also could not attack no matter how hard he tried. The odd thing that Zack did that was even remotely helpful was leaping suddenly in front of someone else, taking the brunt of the monster's furious attacks.

But no matter what they did, the flying monster did not appear to be tiring.

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**Sahxyel:** And I stop there. The first time I played through FFXII I actually tried killing the Garuda-Egi without the use of an Eskir Berry. It didn't work five out of five times, and I kept dying. Let's see how our favorite group will do when Zack can't OHKO their first problem-boss, and don't have the magic little berry for aid. As for the materia, if anyone is wondering, is probably one of the more useless materia of the original Final Fantasy VII known as 'Cover'. Muhaha!

**Random Moogle:** Kupopo! We would like to thank The Eternal Dream, Blue-Huntress, DragonBlade00, and mf for reviewing!

Replies to Reviews:

**Bradley McCloud:** I'll try and tone it down one the game mechanics then. As for the Paramina Rift, that's the snowy mountainous range after the Golmore Jungle. The place with the light walkways that you seem to be thinking of is way further in the game. Ehehehe…

**Stalker of Stories**: Thank you for the extensive reviews, first of all, and I would like to note that yes, it is incredibly hard to find decent crossovers for the FF section. Hence why I wrote this; I wanted a decent crossover and decided to make one. I was originally thinking of Zack to find 'All' in the desert, but the prospect of using 'Cover' was too great. As for the Paramina Rift, something much better (in my opinion) than materia will be there. As for story discrepancies, the chocobo knowledge and Fran's ability to hold the Goddess Magicite will come to light later on…

Sahxyelfan: Whoa, that name caught me through a loop. Anyway, you're onto something with your hypothesis…but I'm afraid I can't say anything more, sadly. Sorry the update didn't come fast enough; I've been busy playing more Dirge of Cerberus than FF VII or XII recently…

**MrsGrizzley**: Holy baloney! That is by far the longest review I've ever seen! Anyway, most of the juicy and best chapters (in my opinion) will come once I get the ball rolling on the plot. We're still technically at a climbing action, since the story is so big, and so, needs more setting up. Mostly, after Tomb of Raithwall, or even after the second _Leviathan_ chapter, the plot will start trucking. Your review has also made me realize I've been spelling 'Archades' wrong. D'oh!

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**Sahxyel:** I've realized that maybe I'll need a Beta to help me with this; as I seem to misspell or misname certain things in FFXII's universe that I constantly have to fix sooner or later. If anyone's interested; tell me! Until next time, dear readers!


	8. Chapter VIII

_**The SOLDIER of Ivalice**_

**Chapter VIII**

"What I wouldn't give for my DMV to work right about now…" Zack muttered under his breath, dodging yet another attack the flying monster sent at him. The Garuda-Egi was really fixated on him now, but Zack couldn't figure why. He guessed it got tired of trying to attack someone else only to hit him at the last second that it probably decided to just save itself the frustration and go after him only.

It wasn't so bad; Zack never felt too terrible after the Garuda's attacks, but he started to feel an ache of pain after what felt like the millionth time the monster's talons and beak lashed at him. Even the Cure spells Vaan and Penelo sent him didn't seem to do much good, and Zack knew why. The magic was far too weak to heal him up properly, a higher level spell would have worked but…Zack guessed that they didn't have any magical stones or scrolls that allowed them to cast Cura or Curaga. Besides, it seemed they needed most of their magical power focused on a different outlet other than healing.

"Dark!" Vaan's voice rang out as an inky black magic flew from the ground underneath the Garuda, causing it to screech in pain. It swiveled in the air, flapping erratically as the dark magic faded, before turning its fierce head at Vaan.

Finding out the Garuda was weak to Dark had been entirely accidental. Zack's bangle with the nifty Sense spell hadn't told them what the bird was weak or immune to, but Penelo had alone discovered the interesting fact after casting everything she could at the bird. This also helped her successfully blind the beast as well, making it miss when it attacked. Zack was thankful for this after a full hour of taking talons and sharp beak jabs, because at least it was easier to dodge the evil bird.

It took a while, but Zack could tell that the Garuda was slowing down. Its wings flapped more frantically as the time dragged on and being bombarded by bullets, Dark spells, Telekinesis, and occasional bits of rust. It seemed ragged as it tried lashing out at anyone to attack, but Zack somehow found himself intercepting most of the attacks. He blamed the nearly mastered purple materia in the Buster Sword; the spell the materia possessed made him get the undeniable urge to selflessly leap in front of someone else, taking the brunt of wicked attacks from the Garuda-Egi.

He had heard of that kind of materia before but had never actually owned one until now. 'Cover' materia were somewhat rare to find in Midgar, and for good reason. Most people thought the ability was completely worthless, barring the use of helping a person take enough damage to perform their ultimate attack and eventually improve enough to gain the ability to master a different attack in time. The problem with _him_ owning it, unfortunately, was that his ultimate attacks were directly linked to his malfunctioning Digital Mind Wave. No amount of hits he took was ever going to reactivate it, although it _was_ being successful in giving him a very large headache. So far, the only good thing the materia did was help him protect the vastly weaker members of his party by using himself as a human shield, which wasn't as much fun as Zack would've preferred.

It was good for them, not so good for himself. Zack already made up his mind that he was going to settle carrying the Cover materia around in his bag _after_ the battle, and probably never equip it _ever_ again. Especially when the battles were as drawn-out as now; he couldn't afford taking hit after hit after hit…Speaking of which, the Garuda looked like it was readying itself for another divebomb attack-

"SKRRAAA!" The Garuda let out a pained screech and flailed about in the air as two more Dark spells burned its glowing belly. Zack blinked and took a cautious step away from the massive bird. It continued to thrash in the air, fell with a strange grace, then landed face-first onto the ground right in front of him. Zack blinked again and the Garuda-Egi stared vapidly back at him with wide glassy eyes. Was it…dead?

BANG!

A bullet pierced the Garuda's skull and the glow that surrounded the monster immediately faded from sight, leaving a very plain looking bird prone on the dirt.

"Finally." Balthier muttered, holstering his gun with a slight frown on his face. "For a moment I thought we were going to be fighting it all day."

Fran's gun smoked noticeably as she gently blew the heat away from the tip. "All beasts fall eventually." She said simply, holstering her gun a moment later. "It is unusual for Garuda-Egi to make nest so far from their homes…this one must have been the terror-beast Sandsea travelers spoke of."

"It explains why so many people haven't found the tomb…I guess." Vaan said as he slipped his weapon into a strap on his back. "I mean, I don't think me and Penelo could have taken that thing alone. Maybe not even three us of could do it. And since most people travel through the desert in small groups…"

"Good thing we're not a small group." Zack replied, frowning slightly at the carcass of the Garuda-Egi. He wondered how he would have fared against the bird by himself, had he the ability to actually hit it. It was pretty tough for a monster of Ivalice and probably would have put up a halfway-decent fight against him.

Glancing back up, Zack noticed the others were already making their way for the huge staircase to the tomb. It made sense that they wanted to get their business done as soon as possible, but if the guardian of the tomb was an annoyingly strong bird what were the chances something stronger was lurking around inside? It seemed very likely…but Zack shook his head. If he went along, he _knew_ something unexpected was going to happen. It always seemed to do that when he hung around Basch, Vaan, Balthier, and Fran. Plus, he seriously doubted all the answers he was looking for was in a dead-guy's tomb.

Then again; Zack frowned. He didn't like the idea of any of them getting hurt by anything inside the tomb. They were the closest thing to friends he had in Ivalice, and probably were the only ones who would even remotely believe him about Midgar and Gaia. He already helped them through so much; it didn't feel right to just leave them now. With a sigh, Zack looked down and saw the purple materia sparkle in the slot of the Buster Sword, twinkling tauntingly.

"Hm…" He popped the materia from its slot and looked it over. Basch didn't have to get this for him, but he still did. It was like how he kept choosing to help the others, despite his own personal problems…was it right to just leave?

"Oi!" A voice called across the empty courtyard, quite loudly by the sound of it too. Zack glanced away from the materia, towards the exit back to the Nam-Yensa Sandsea. Two chocobos were just emerging from the cave, with the bald rider on the lead chocobo waving to him. Zack's fingers closed around the purple materia as they drew closer, obscuring the materia from being properly seen.

"Ah, so the Tomb of Raithwall was not a myth!" Dyce declared, stopping his chocobo right in front of Zack. "And I see that the flying monster was not a tale either! What a marvelous battle it was!"

"…You watched us fight that thing?" Zack asked, raising an eyebrow. Dyce smirked back in response, snapping the reigns to his chocobo. With an indignant 'wark' the chocobo continued onward to the Tomb, with the other chocobo and the woman following him briefly afterwards. However, the two stopped their chocobos right at the steps, instead of continuing onward.

Zack looked to them curiously, walking over to where they had stopped. "Aren't you two going to go in?"

"Obviously you didn't hear us when we spoke of the traps the Tomb is rumored to have." The woman on the chocobo said. "If the monster that guards the tomb is actually real, then the possibility of fatal traps in the tomb will be highly likely as well. We'll just wait for your lot to leave first."

"Unless your friends never emerge; then I suppose we'll just leave and come back later. Preparation is key to successful tomb raiding." Dyce added with a small shrug. "Personally I like living, and dying right now isn't the top of my priorities."

Curiosity and partial worry seeped into Zack's mind, causing him to glance back at the Tomb of Raithwall. Subconsciously, he rolled the materia clenched in his palm and frowned noticeably. "What kind of traps are supposed to be in there?"

"Oh, we don't have the foggiest actually." Dyce shrugged. "But everyone knows that dungeons or various abandoned indoor locales typically harbor some sort of nasty beast inside. Take the Sochen Cave Palace for example; there's a rumor floating around that a wyrm is taking up residence there!"

Zack had no idea what or where the 'Sochen Cave Palace' was, but decided not to ask in case he got the typical 'Where are you from?' question again. Right now, he had the feeling he didn't have much time for a small chats that turned into very long explanations. "So the chance of something deadly lurking around in there is pretty high?"

"I would think so." Dyce nodded in confirmation. 'If you're planning on going in, we have something in stock that you might need-"

"No thanks, I'm pretty much set right now." Zack replied, hoping not to offend the chocobo rider too much. It seemed he didn't, but Dyce's face fell anyway. With a helpless shrug, Zack trekked past the two chocobos and headed up the long stairway to the entrance of the Tomb, pocketing the Cover materia on the way up. When he got to the top, however…

"What the-?! Where's the door?!"

* * *

"Hurry, close the door!"

Basch threw himself against the stone door along with Vossler and Vaan, struggling to shut it before the Demon Wall behind them could get any closer. With a loud creak, the door closed, hiding the terrible visage of the wall from sight. Why living walls would be Raithwall's trap of choice was quickly made clear earlier; the wall itself was powerful and strong, with dark magicks driving it along until it either smote its enemy with a massive sword or had them meet their fate against the stone doors. Had they not opened the door in time…Basch did not prefer to think of it.

"That was close…" Vaan muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "Kinda wish Zack was here to take it on. He could've wiped it out with no problem."

"We can't rely on him every moment we find something unpleasant." Balthier noted, brushing dust off his clothes. "Even if he is helpful, we should expect to destroy our own foes without relying on anyone else."

A grim tone came from Ashe, her eyes fixed at Balthier. "Are you so certain of that?"

Basch gazed at her for the unusual remark, but soon understood why she said what she did. She wasn't looking at Balthier as he originally thought, but past him and towards the end of the long bridge they were situated on. While they were all grouped toward the end, near the door, something moved on the other end, something massive and large with glowing eyes and a terrible visage...

"Another one?!" Penelo gasped, "How can we-"

"We have more time than with the other one; we must defeat it before it draws too near!" Basch replied swiftly, unsheathing his weapon and charging down the bridge. Behind him, Basch heard more footfalls follow him as he dashed closer and closer to the new Demon Wall, bringing up his sword to stab into a stone crab-like leg. The wall continued onward, undaunted, even swiping a sword down to knock him away. The pain from the swipe was brief, but painful nonetheless.

Another sword drove into the stone body of the Demon Wall, slicing out and taking a chunk of rock along with it. Ashe glared at the wall aggressively, easily outstepping the retaliating swipe it sent at her. "Don't stop!" She snapped, turning her head briefly to glance at Basch with firm eyes.

Realizing he was taking far too long to react, Basch shook his head to clear his mind and set upon the wall with Ashe, slashing and stabbing any part of the evil wall they could attack. Vossler eventually came forward as well, slicing the wall with rapid attacks and keeping up with the rain of sword swipes. Still, the wall pressed onward, and Basch found himself taking more and more steps backwards, more across the bridge.

Then, without warning, the Wall shot forward with incredible speed. Basch found himself shoved back by the wall itself, and struggled to swipe at the wall yet again. His heart sank as the doors behind became increasingly closer, and as the wall continued forward-

"Hurry! Stop it! Pick the right fire!" Vaan's voice came from somewhere behind, sounding extremely panicked. Turning his head slightly, Basch saw Fran and Penelo crowded around one of the fires that lined the side of the bridge, with Vaan and Balthier on the other side. Although he couldn't see what they were doing, one of the fires promptly went out.

The Demon Wall came to a complete halt, apparently confused that it was not moving at the speed it was a moment prior. Using the pause to an advantage, both Ashe and Vossler drove their blades across the stone surface of the Wall, leaving jagged slashes in their blades' wake. Realizing the potential of the situation, Basch too slashed as powerfully as he could at the wall, leaving thin jagged grooves sliced across the wall's large and gruesome face. Gunshots soon rang out, as well as a few Fire spells flying overhead and slamming into the wall's face.

With a well-timed swipe, the Wall sent Vossler back, colliding into Vaan who seemed to have been standing a few paces behind him. Basch gained a more determined expression, slashing and jabbing at the Demon Wall furiously before it had the chance to send either he or Ashe flying away as well. The demonic wall did not seem to occupy itself with the action of slicing at them, though…

Around the wall, an accumulation of orange and purple aura danced into the air as the Demon Wall finally started to move forward again. A spell? Basch wasn't certain the spell would be a pleasant one, but at least it would stop it from knocking them away for a brief while. Gripping his sword, Basch leapt forward for another attack.

All at once, a magick aura surrounded him as he swung forward with another swipe, only this time he caught nothing but air. In astonishment, Basch stared. The wall was simply gone; and it wasn't just that either. It seemed as if he was actually _nowhere_ at all, standing in a place that certainly was not the interior of the Tomb of Raithwall. Instead, he was standing in a space that appeared to be infinitely white nothing in all four directions.

"What is this? Am I-…?" Basch sheathed his sword as a sinking sensation gripped him. Had he perished from whatever spell the Wall had cast? He could think of only one other explanation, being that he was somehow transported to an entirely different place by the casting of the spell the Demon Wall possessed. The other he hoped was true; as dying wasn't something he was quite ready for yet, not when he still had to see to it that Ashe received the Dynast-King's Dawn Shard.

Taking a few steps forward, Basch tried to look around yet again for any sign of anything besides a vast white expanse. Only the echoes of his footsteps came to him, but even that was of little comfort. He glanced upwards to see a vast white sky that appeared as familiar as the four directions he could travel. The ground itself even did not look firm at all, infinitely white as all other of his surroundings. Releasing a sigh, Basch frowned. Now what could he do to get out of this predicament?

"Who're you?"

Basch nearly jumped at the voice, his heart skipping at least one beat. The voice was startlingly loud, as if the speaker were standing next to him. The strange thing about that, however, was that there was nobody there except himself. A quick glance around told him this much; there was nothing except vast expanse _of_ nothing in all directions.

"Who is it, brother?" A second voice joined the first, as loud as if someone were actually within the White Space.

"I don't know; certainly not Mother…" A third voice spoke dubiously, this voice much softer than the first two. Basch again scanned his surroundings for any sign of the owners of these particular voices, but found none yet again. What was this phenomenon?

"Well, if it isn't Mother, who is it then? It isn't the other man Mother has visit either." The first voice wondered, the masculine yet youthful voice suspicious.

Basch finally decided to speak; unnerved particularly because the three voices were speaking of him despite the fact he was standing right there. "Where am I?"

There was a noticeable silence, followed by several murmuring sounds as if the three disembodied voices were having a private conversation. Basch waited patiently for one of the supposed three to speak. Luckily, it didn't take very long.

"You are here." The softer spoken voice murmured, with a sort of listlessness in the voice. Again, it sounded faintly male. "This place…it is the place where the living and the nonliving congregate."

"Mother loves coming here." Came the despondent sigh from the extremely masculine voice.

"Yeah." The voice of youthful masculinity sighed sadly. "But…she hasn't visited us in so long. We only get two visitors, you see. You're the newest face we've seen in a very long while."

Basch felt a twinge of hope. If this was a place were both living and dead could meet, then perhaps he wasn't dead after all. "I am but a visitor here?"

A sarcastic tone entered the youthful voice. "Well, you _are_ alive. No living person can stay here long."

Pure relief surged through Basch and he sighed to express it. "Good. I feared the worst had befallen me at last." Looking about, Basch had only one more question to ask. "How can I return to where I was?"

"You'll just pop out and reappear there. It's really random when it will actually happen." The youthful voice explained. "It could be at any time."

"Hm." Basch nodded. He was certain he could handle that, but until then he was stuck in this place betwixt life and death. Until he could return, Basch figured he would just wait and speak with these spirits that occupied the White Space. "Why are you three staying in such a place? Haven't you better things to do in the afterlife?"

One of the voices tittered unhappily. The second one snorted, but it was the youthful voice that actually answered the question. "We aren't exactly allowed to join."

"Why is that?" Basch questioned, his curiosity piqued now. "Do the Gods deny you safe passage?"

"Gods?' The more masculine voice muttered in confusion. "There haven't been any 'Gods' to stop us…"

"No, there hasn't." The listless voice replied. "We just are not allowed to join. We stay here, isolated from the rest in our own personal space. I suppose in retrospect that it was fortunate…"

"Fortunate? How can it be fortunate?" Basch asked, looking around cautiously. A few nasty chuckles erupted from the three voices, a sound that Basch knew he did not like or trust very much.

"It's fortunate because…most of the 'afterlife' is in big trouble." The younger voice sneered. "With what, we really don't know. Mother doesn't think we need to know."

The voices started to sound snide and hostile, causing Basch to grow very wary. He was unsure if spirits, or whatever these voices actually were, could hurt him or not but he did not want to agitate them enough to find out. As curious as he was on what caused the spirits to linger in a plane between life and death, or what sort of trouble the afterlife was in, he decided against pressing the subject. The trouble probably had something to do with warring gods or something of the like…

"Basch?!"

Jolting from his stupor, Basch was completely baffled. He had only broke off into a small thought, and in the space of merely blinking once, he found himself standing on the bridge he had previously been fighting the Demon Wall on, only now it seemed the wall was nothing more than a pile of debris and dust. Vaan and Fran stood not too far away, but Basch could not see the others anywhere in the huge room.

Fran slowly approached him, "You had vanished. It was due to a Teleport spell, sent from the Demon Wall." She explained shortly. "We were not sure you would return."

Confused and somewhat dazed, Basch only could nod. Vaan started to babble something very fast, over his shock of seeing him appear from virtually nowhere. Without his wits, Basch only could comprehend that the young thief was clearly excited from whatever the spell had done, and was bombarding him with multitudes of meaningless questions.

"Where did you go? Did you go to another dimension; because when I used Libra it said Teleport sent people to other dimensions! What was it like; was it weird? Did you have to fight vicious monsters or float upside down or-"

These questions continued even as they all continued down the bridge and to the other end of the room. The door was pushed slightly ajar, suggesting that the others had gone on ahead while Vaan and Fran remained behind. With a slight push, Basch widened the opening of the door to allow the others inside. Vaan continued to speculate on where possibly the magick had sent him, but Fran had remained thankfully silent on the subject. He followed them inside, and finally decided to speak.

"It was a strange experience."

This prompted a much quieter Vaan and a small nod from Fran. Taking this reaction, Basch decided to continue. "That spell, it sent me to a place between life and death. It was pure white all around, and somehow very peaceful."

"Whoa…" Vaan stared in awe. "Between life and death? What was there?"

"Three…spirits, I suppose. They were very vocal." Basch replied quietly, unsure on how to describe the three. "They were also strange; very genial one moment and the next completely unpredictable."

As they continued on, Fran glanced briefly at him. "Three spirits? Was it they who told you it was the place between?"

Basch nodded, "Yes…I did not find much more information afterwards; not anything relevant that could assist our endeavor." One thought continued to needle at him like a Cactoid, causing him to frown. "…They did mention something troubling." Pausing, Basch saw that both Fran and Vaan were giving him their entire attention. With a sigh, he continued up a flight of stairs. "They had mentioned that the afterlife was in danger. Of what I do not know, they did not know either, but it did not bode well."

Alarm flashed across Vaan's face, and a flicker of surprise graced the Viera's normally calm face as well.

"The afterlife…it's in danger? Are the Gods warring again?" Vaan asked, his eyes growing wide. "What'll happen to everyone in the afterlife if all that chaos is going on?"

With a troubled frown, Basch shook his head. "I haven't a clue…"

"There is nothing we can do to quell the fighting of Gods." Fran said contemplatively. "Even if we had known what the conflict is about…what is there to do?"

Fran did have an excellent point there. If the problem was in the afterlife, there really wasn't anything anybody could do to remedy the situation if they lived on the mortal plane. The thought still continued to trouble Basch regardless, and giving a small glance to Vaan he too saw the young man appear quite perturbed by the news. No doubt he was worrying about those of his loved ones who already traversed the realm of the dead, and what their wellbeing was at the moment…

When they reached the middle of the room, two Waystones sat on the platform to greet them. One appeared to not work at the moment, with the magicks within it dead and unmoving. The other, after a quick check, seemed to lead back to the entrance of the tomb. Around the cavernous room, the soft sound of flapping wings hummed through the air as what appeared to be a form of white Steeling wheedling around the various staircases to try and find some grim meal.

One end of the room was strangely absent of the winged beasts, suggesting that the others had entered the room to the right. The left area was still infested with the white Steeling creatures, although none of the beasts appeared to have the urge to dart to where they were at the moment.

"Now what? Should we wait for the others?"

Basch glanced to Vaan, "We could, but we would waste more time waiting here. They could find the way to the Dawn Shard long before they decide to return."

"Or they may run into a dead end." Fran added on, slipping her gun from her holster. "We could continue on, but the monsters dwelling here may be too strong for our small group."

"I don't think so." Vaan replied shortly, "These Steeling look pretty weak, and we're well rounded right?"

Basch mulled it over silently. If they continued on, they risked running into a trap or a horde of vicious creatures without any aid. To add to that, the others were well off with themselves, being a group of four and not three. However, Vaan did have a point. All three of them were well off in case they had to fight. Vaan covered them as far as magick was concerned, and Fran had a pretty good shot as well. As far as Basch knew, they also were well stocked with Phoenix Down, as Fran was the one who was carrying the bulk of their limited and precious item.

"I think we will be able to go on our own, provided we stay cautious." Basch finally said, nodding once. "If you both are up to the task, I will have no problem continuing."

He gazed at the two, to see that Vaan was predictably already set on leaving. Fran, on the other hand, seemed to be slightly more dubious on leaving as a small group. The Viera stared thoughtfully at him, then Vaan, and finally the dead Waystone in the center of the room. With a soft sigh, she nodded once.

Without so much of a word, they continued onward to the left stairs, heading towards the left exit.

* * *

Watching the strange black-haired man in curiosity, Winne couldn't help but giggle. He had been trying for almost an hour to figure out how to enter the Tomb of Raithwall, but for some reason did not come to the conclusion that the Waystone at the top of the stairs was the actual way in. Both Winne and Dyce chuckled as the man paced, scratched his head, and even tried tapping the orange teleport crystal nearby the entrance of the Tomb.

It was all very amusing to watch, honestly. Winne never had seen someone more clueless about something since her childhood, not since the time when her younger brother was trying to figure out what the switches in the Garamsythe Waterway. Both he and the older man now had nearly identical facial expressions of utter confusion and minor frustration as they tried tackling their task. It was rather cute and funny.

What Winne supposed was even funnier was that working a Waystone was monumentally easier than figuring out the puzzle of the Waterway gates.

"Should we help him out of his misery?" Winne asked after stopping herself from giggling again. Dyce shook his head, a broad grin on his face.

"No. We'll wait for him to come ask."

As they waited for the man to come back down from the top of the Tomb's stairs, Winne decided to look through their inventory, in case Dyce convinced the man to actually buy from them again. He had added some new items, a magick here and there, and a few extra weapons, but other than that there wasn't anything else new in the bag…except…

"Dyce, why'd you put this in here?" Winne wondered, fishing a large blue orb from the very bottom of the inventory bag. She held it up to him, "I thought you liked this one."

"I do, but I have a hunch." Dyce replied, his eyes twinkling with a sly expression. "I'm sure you didn't notice, but earlier he had that purple orb within one of the slots in his sword."

"I did notice." Winne said, frowning slightly. "When they were fighting that strange monster, I saw the purple in one of the open slots. What of it?"

Dyce smirked, glancing back up at the stairway. "He tried hiding it from us when we approached him earlier. His sword was absent of the purple orb, but he was holding something in his fist. I figure those orbs must be of some value to him, and I want to see how much."

Curiously, Winne gazed at the larger blue orb in her hand. It was bigger than the purple one they had owned, but it was just as beautiful with a swirl of mysterious light within the colored sphere. She remembered when Dyce had picked both of the orbs up back at Balfonheim, from some seedy vendor that came from Archades. The vendor claimed that the orbs were worth _millions_ of Gil but contrary to the claim nobody wanted them.

Except for the strange man…

"I always knew that these were worth more than they appeared." Winne murmured, gazing at the orb pensively.

"Here he comes." Dyce said, looking up at the steps of the Tomb. Winne glanced up from the orb, to see the spiky haired man hurrying down the stairs, a perturbed expression printed on his face. Gently rolling the blue orb between her fingers, Winne called out to the black-haired man. "Is something wrong, sir?"

"Yeah, there is! There's no door up there!" The man looked frazzled and dreadfully confused. "But the others, they weren't up there…"

"Was there a Waystone up there?" Dyce asked, smirking a little. "They probably used that to get inside. Most buildings use those to enter and exit sealed areas. It keeps unsavory people out." He gave a chuckle. "You wouldn't happen to be unsavory, would you?"

The man was flabbergasted. "No, I'm not! I'm just trying to get in there, in case something in there can kill them!"

He seemed to be very concerned, as though the thought had been gnawing on his conscience. Winne tilted her head curiously; he certainly was braver than most men she met. "You are not worried for your own safety? They are a much larger group, while you are only one man. What if you are ambushed inside, with nobody to help you overcome the attack?"

The man shook his head obstinately. "I can deal with it. It's them I'm worried about." He said this with complete certainty, confusing Winne at the same time. How could he be so sure? "Do either of you know how to work that 'Waystone' thing?"

"You touch the device." Dyce replied smoothly. "It should work on the first try. If not, there might be magicks preventing others from entering when there already is someone inside. One-way Waystones are somewhat common for older buildings, now that I think about it."

"So…there's no way in?" The man asked, frowning.

"If no light comes from the Waystone, then no, there isn't." Winne said calmly. "You will just have to wait until they exit."

Giving a loud groan, the man slumped forward dejectedly and sighed. Again, it was a very curious and hilarious sight for Winne to see from a grown man. He acted so very much like a child at times! Toying with the blue orb in her hand, she called gently out to him. "Don't fret. They are such a large group. I'm sure they'll be safe as long as they stay together."

The man glanced up at her, allowing Winne to get a good look at his unusual blue eyes. How they seemed to glow in the sunlight! "You're right. I guess I'm just worrying too much. I-" He stopped in mid-sentence, a quick flash of surprise appearing briefly on his face. "Blue?"

"Hmm? Oh, you mean this?" Winne hummed out, holding the orb into the light. Within it, a swirl of magick glittered and danced in a circular motion. "Dyce and I completely forgot we had two orbs in stock. This found its way into one of our possession bags by some mistake. Do you like it?"

"I-uh-yeah!" The man straightened up, a spark appearing his eyes as he gazed at the orb. "Are you selling that one too?"

Winne nodded once, smiling yet again. "We are…but we are curious too. What do these orbs mean to you? They certainly are beautiful to behold, but any glassmaker in Rabanastre can make an orb twice as beautiful, and for half the cost."

The man shrugged once. "They remind me of home. Plus, they do make this sword a little more interesting, right? Regular glass just shatters in the slots, but those orbs work fine."

It was a frustratingly simple answer. Unsatisfied, Winne glanced to Dyce for some sort of cue. He appeared as puzzled as her, though. Maybe the orbs really were just a decorative item and they were lucky enough to find a willing buyer. "Of…course." She managed, nodding. "The price is one thousand three hundred gil."

Checking his pockets, the man barely scraped by to purchase the orb, dropping a heavy sum of coins into Dyce's hands. With a satisfactory nod from Dyce, Winne handed the blue orb over to the man. As soon as it fell into his palm, his eyes widened considerably. "Whoa!"

"What is it?" Dyce asked, glancing up from the Gil sharply. The man didn't notice; he was too busy holding the orb gleefully.

"Hahaha! A _mastered_ All?! This is awesome!" With a sharp movement, the man pulled the massive sword he carried over his shoulder and popped the blue orb into the top slot. "Much better than Cover! Now all I need is a Restore or something and I'll really be set…"

What in the world was he talking about? Cover? All? Winne glanced at Dyce in confusion, but the bald man just shrugged at her. His didn't appear to have a clue what the man was talking about either. Clearing her throat, she managed to snag the man's attention. "May I ask why you are so…joyous?"

"Nothing, no reason." The man replied, still with a grin on his face. "I guess I should head back up there and wait for them. Thanks a lot!" With that, the spiky-haired man raced back up the stairs, with an added bounce in his step.

"…Why do I get the feeling that we've been had?" Dyce finally muttered, looking down at his sack of gil. "Three hundred gil more than for what we spent on it, yet it still seems wrong."

With a sigh, Winne glanced up to see the sun was heading away from its center point in the sky, going westward by now. "Dyce, perhaps we should leave. By the time we reach Nabradia, it'll be dark…"

"Hmm? Oh. You're right. I must've been caught up in all of this." Dyce responded as he tugged on his chocobo's reigns to turn it around. "We should leave. I wouldn't want to trifle with Urutan and their likes at dusk, and our junction into Rabanastre won't be quite a fair time either." The man urged his chocobo on, with a small frown on his face. "Hopefully the way back won't take as long as the journey here. If only we had a map of the Sandseas…"

Urging her chocobo to follow his as well, Winne couldn't help but glance back at the Tomb of Raithwall. Surely the motley group would be safe there if they made camp out in the wide front area of the tomb, as it was pleasantly devoid of any monsters. Still, that was assuming they ever left that mysterious tomb in the first place. As her chocobo entered the wide and dark cavern that led back to the Nam Yensa, a part of Winne hoped that they would be alright.

It wasn't until much later, when both she and Dyce were halfway through the Nam Yensa, when they spied countless airships of Archades fly overhead, in the direction of the Tomb of Raithwall. Whatever reason the Empire was going there for, Winne had a feeling it did not bode well to the treasure hunters already occupying the tomb itself.

* * *

**Sahxyel:** I have no idea why, but this chapter was really hard for me to type out. I guess it's because I'm so antsy to get to the REAL plot soon, that the bridges to get there just block my attempts. Anyway, sorry for such a long hiatus, faithful readers! Here we have some minor plot setting, another materia, a cameo from some Compilation characters, and a setup for the second Leviathan chapter!

For the Compilation character cameo, I did this because one of my characters REALLY did get hit by a Teleport spell from the Wall. Vaan's reaction to Basch was similar to my reaction after Balthier vanished into nowhere then reappeared a while later. To make it more plot compliant, though, Basch was the one that had the fun trip to the 'different dimension'.

Also, for some good news, I have obtained and played Crisis Core. Now I have an awesome outlook on Zack's past! Really sad ending, though.

**Random Moogle:** Kupo! Sahxyel has to thank Yuleen75, Honor, Drake G. Reaper, hizmit12-waterlily3721, Extreme uGamer', SharperImage, Ryn, mf, and xc. Thank you all for your reviews!

Replies to Reviews:

**MrsGrizzley: **The 'All' thing has been noted so many times that I decided to give up and give him one anyway. Since Dyce's shop updates after the Garuda fight, it DID make some sense to add another materia. Even if it's relatively worthless right now. As for Eksir, I got this game for Christmas a few years back without a Strategy Guide, hence the multiple dying without the dumb berry because I had no idea it existed. None of my characters had licenses for long rang weapons either.

Guy: Everyone talks about Tactics and I have no idea what that is, to be honest. The level thing is just a gauge to show a person how strong something is, not to be taken very literally as a game standard. I LIKE having some game mechanics in my writings, and I'm sorry if that bugs you, but meh. Anyway, Zack isn't going to be gaining any levels at all; his DMW is broken. (Crisis Core standard: Level Up via DMW.)

**Stalker of Stories:** Muhaha, Nanaki? Not quite. The XVII wasn't a typo; I meant it to be XVII. So who is he? We'll find out somewhat soon. Like, Garif soon. And that was the logic of me giving Zack Cover first and All second. Sorry I haven't got the Beta thing going yet; I was saving it for next chapter actually.

**Lord of the Blood Moon:** The Eksir Berry is used to 'weaken' the Garuda by taking away its glowing ability. It makes regular attacks hurt it more, basically. When I played through the first time, I had no berry, no Quickenings, and only two long range fighters. I died pretty badly.

**Bradley McCloud:** This is the regular version of FFXII; I don't own the International Zodiac so I can't really draw from it. And yes, my ability to catch grammar mistakes and whatnot epically fails in that department. I was actually hoping you'd be my second Beta, actually, as two is better than one, no?

**Lost MP:** I know; that's how I beat it too after the countless 'dying' phases: Dark Spam. Hahaha! Anyway, I figured Zack would make an epic summon for all the reasons you've listed. The Esper Equal Character theme, unfortunately, only pairs with Vincent as both Aerith (Aeris) and Sephiroth already exist in my story as something else. Cloud too, now that I think about it. As for Zack's level, because of Crisis Core I found that his level up system is completely random in his DMW. Because it's broken in FFXII, there is no possible way he can actually level up anymore.

**Midnight Phase:** Aerith/Aeris will definitely show up soon, as she's important to Zack whether the Clerith fans like it or not. And Cloud will too, but MUCH later. I can't stress how far into the story it'll be when he shows up. As for 'Red' he is going to be central to unfolding the actual plot of this fic, but as I've said, he has a XVII and not a XIII tattoo. Weird, right?

**EvilManiacX:** Nah, Omnislash is Cloud's thing.

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**Random Moogle:** Kupopo! Sorry for such a late chapter! Sahxyel started college a few months back and it eats her time up like a bottomless pit! Don't forget to review, kupo!


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